Lianna's Story
by Imagination Live
Summary: She was alone now, they had made sure of that when they took her mother from her. She didn't know why they killed her but she knew they would come back for her. That's why she had to hide, to become someone else, a boy... After 10 years of hiding she may have to risk revealing her identity to save the one person she has left... Please read, slight AU OCxOC
1. Friendship

I heaved the scrap metal over my shoulder, staying alert of what happened around me. It was a habit now, a habit that kept me alive, always be aware of your surroundings. Especially a good rule of thumb when you're living in the slums. If the monsters don't get you, someone else will. I tossed it into the pile I had made and saw something out of the corner of my eye. A teenage boy was harassing a girl, "I said leave me alone!" she said pushing him away and storming off.

That ignited my short fuse like a bonfire. Before I knew it I was turning him around and punching him in the face. He fell to the ground clutching his jaw, "Oww-!"

I grabbed his shirt collar with one hand and raised to punch him with the other, "Is that how you treat women punk!?"

"H-hey wait! You got it wrong! That's my sister! I was just joking around with her!" he said grabbing my wrist with his free hand before I punched him again.

"Your sister?" I asked. Did I get it wrong or is he just scared of getting beat up? "Prove it."

"I wouldn't ever hurt a woman," He said sitting up. He looked extremely offended as he searched my eyes. I released a breath I didn't know I'd held, when he let go of my wrist and we both got up. He was a bit taller than me with a broader chest, he looked like he trained often, but his face was still a bit softer. Freckles dotted his cheeks and his short brown hair hung in his face a bit, but they didn't quite cover his bluish green eyes. I realized he noticed me inspecting him, "Thank you for wanting to protect her," he said. "It's good to know she'll have someone to watch out for her," he smiled.

"You're welcome," I said surprised.

"I'm Daniel," he said holding out his hand. I took it hesitantly, "What's you're name?"

I've been through this enough times, I released an inner sigh and tried to relax, "William."

"William?" Daniel looked surprised.

"Yeah."

He looked me over, "... I'm new here. My sisters and I moved into the shop with our Grandma Joan."

Joan the shop owner is my employer, she's taught me a lot of things, but even though I've known her for years I couldn't tell her the truth. Actually, because I've known her for years is exactly the reason why I can never tell her! "You're Joan's grandson...?"

"You know her?"

I nodded, "She's my employer."

He smiled, "Then we'll be seeing a lot more of each other then! Do you want to be friends?"

My heart nearly stopped and I grew giddy, I got excited about the thought of seeing him around more. Get over it! He only asked if you'd be his friend! I scolded myself. "No thanks."

"... What..?" he asked surprised.

I started getting back to work, "I'm really busy."

"Here let me help you with that," Daniel said going to pick up some of my load.

"Unh-uh. You help and I don't get paid," I told him.

"Come on, Grandma wouldn't do that to you. And besides, I work here too now."

"I don't really need help," I sighed as he continued to try and help me. A tinge of anger grew when he picked up one of the heaviest looking scraps in the yard. Does he think I'm so weak that I couldn't pick that up by myself!? I took it from him and he looked at me surprised. It was a lot heavier than it looked, "I got this."

He took it from me, "I'm trying to be helpful."

I glared at him and let him take it, part of me was relieved, but the other was extremely annoyed. "I can handle the heavier stuff I've been doing this for years."

"I never said you couldn't."

"look-!"

"Hey. William. I'm not saying you're not strong, I just wanted to help," Daniel said.

Just cut it out! I told myself. He's not insinuating anything! Regulate your breathing. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. I opened my eyes to see him studying me, I blushed, "What?"

"Nothing..." He said turning away. I stared at him for a moment before picking up another piece of scrap, I winced and dropped it. Great! I cut my arm! Great job for being careless Lianna! "Hey let me see," he took my arm.

"What? No! Let go!" I pulled back from him.

"You're so stubborn," Daniel said taking my arm again, "You know you can't treat it alone." I glared as he rolled back my sleeve and checked it, "Not too deep," he led me inside and dressed my wound. I winced as he put on the antiseptic, "I'm surprised you're not crying... I would be... " he muttered.

As soon as he said 'crying' I glared and shot out "I'm not a baby!"

He looked at me oddly, "You don't have to be so defensive. I'm not insulting you."

I looked away, "Sorry..."

"It's okay..." After a while Daniel asked, "Do people mock you a lot?"

He looked really sincere, "I don't exactly brighten a room."

"I see... Well I think you're pretty cool. You're strong, you treat women with respect, and you have a high pain tolerance, not that if you cried you wouldn't be cool though," he added, making me blush. I tried to hide it.

"Thanks."

"Let's not forget that you have one heck of a punch," he teased.

"Uh... Yeah... Sorry about that."

"It's all cool," Daniel said. "I'm glad that you did. Now I know I won't be the only one protecting her."

He finished dressing my wound and we finished our work before I took my pay from Joan. "I heard you met my grandson Daniel," Joan smirked.

"Yeah."

"He said you knocked him to the ground! Thanks for trying to protect my granddaughter!" She laughed.

"You're welcome."

She saw my arm, "Oh! What happened?"

"I cut myself on some metal outside."

"I hope it wasn't too deep? Do you need anything?" she asked worriedly.

I shook my head, "No. Daniel took care of it."

"He's a sweet boy," she smiled, "I hope you'll look after him too?"

I blushed, "I don't think he needs me to look after him."

"Nonsense. That boy can get into some trouble," she teased.

I smiled, "I gotta start heading home now okay?"

"Alright. Stay safe William."

"I will," I said turning and heading home.

I had walked a few yards out the door when I heard, "Hey Will. You wanna hang out?"

"No, I gotta head home."

"I'll walk with you. It's safer-."

"I'm fine."

"But you can hardly even see out here!" He was right, tonight the smog was thicker and darker than usual. The dead silence and the streetlight ahead of us eerily flickering against the smog unnerved me. I was glad he was there, although I'd never admit it.

"Exactly why you should stay at home. I can take care of myself."

"I never said you couldn't."

"Alright then. I don't want you to follow me," I said.

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"Because! I told you, I don't want you to follow me around!" I lied. I didn't want to admit the truth, not even to myself; that I was scared and didn't want to be alone. Was it just that? Or is it also because he made me giddy...? He is really sweet, adorable, and funny... God did I just say that? No! No, no, no! I blushed. No I can't think thoughts like that! And anyways he thinks I'm a guy!

"Come on. Don't you want to be friends?"

"No," I said walking away.

He sighed, "Alright... I guess, I'll just leave you on your own then... I really do want to be friends with you though... Well... I'll just go..." He said turning around.

I could hear the hurt in his voice, before I could stop myself I said, "We can be friends..."

"Listen, if you don't want to be-..."

"I'm just not good at having friends."

He laughed, "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm antisocial, short-tempered, and I'll probably end up punching you in the face again. You sure you want to be my friend?" I winced as the harsh words came out.

I could just see his smile through the dimly lit haze, "Short-tempered maybe, but I don't think you're really antisocial. Socially awkward maybe," he smirked trying to hold back a laugh.

I released an inner sigh, glad he wasn't mad at me. Then I smirked back at him, "That punch might happen sooner rather than later."

He smiled, "I'll be waiting."

I didn't really want him to see where I had been living. Not because of the cleanliness, I kept my "home" pretty tidy. Well, at least as tidy as you can get in the slums. No, it was because I didn't want him to get too close. His whole family would be in danger...

Short answer? I ditched him. I didn't want the three of them getting hurt. I walked inside and shut the door to my "home". If you could call it that. It was a dump. Even dumpier than most places in the slums. My closest neighbors were the rats that lived in the trash bucket outside. I started living here because I was hiding from everyone... This is where I became William... I haven't been a girl for a little over five years... Some days I wish I could be like Daniel's sisters, being able to dress up and act the way I truly feel. So I don't have to lie to anyone... I looked sadly at my own reflection. I want to show the true me...


	2. Hope

-Years later-

I started to undress, at least at home I didn't have to be uncomfortable. Mary will be back soon and then we can make lunch... Even after a year it's still hard to believe that Mary's here. The only one who knows who I really am. Someone I can be completely honest with. I'm so glad we found each other again! I was lost for a moment; remembering when we were kids. We used to play all the time in the grass by our houses. I stopped abruptly when I heard something rustle in the kitchen. My first thought went to Marylyn; she wouldn't be back yet! Someone else is here! I grabbed the hilt of my blade and slowly started to draw it out. My heart stopped when I saw them emerge; I released the breath I had been holding, "Danny, you idiot! What are you doing in my house!?"

"Waiting for you," he sounded so calm.

"I was about to kill you! You scared the hell out of me you idiot!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that," he walked over to me and placed a calming hand on my shoulder looking concerned, "Are you okay?" I was breathing heavier than normal, all my nerves were on edge. My nightmares have been coming back in flashbacks and I haven't been sleeping well for weeks. "Will," he led me to my bed and sat me down, "What's wrong...? Jesus... You look sick..."

"... I haven't been sleeping well..." I admitted.

"Why not?"

"... Nightmares..." I said after a moment.

"It doesn't help that you and Mary live out here all alone."

I glared at him a moment, "That's for safety."

"That doesn't make sense!" Daniel said.

"It makes perfect sense!" I shot back.

"How? If something happened to you no one would ever hear you scream!" he said angrily. I looked down. Maybe not in that respect, but for protecting other people it does... I know I didn't like Marylyn being out here, I didn't want her to get hurt. I wished we could both live with Joan and Danny but after what happened, we were scared they'd get hurt. A tear slipped down my cheek when I realized that after mom died I felt like I had nothing and sometimes I didn't really care what happened to me. I held my face in my hands, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you..."

Sometimes I didn't care... Sometimes I wished it would all end... Sometimes I wondered what there was left to live for... I looked at him. When I met Danny and Joan I felt happier and safe. My mind slipped back to when Marylyn found me. She lost her mother too. She was orphaned. And me... My dad didn't even want me... My lip trembled and I tried to stop crying but at this point it was impossible, the floodgates were breaking. He held me, "It's okay to cry... In fact... I think you really need to." When he said that I just couldn't hold it back anymore, I cried and cried and cried. I couldn't stop.

When I woke up he was still there. "Did you sleep well?"

"... No nightmares..." I realized.

"Thank goodness," he said.

"... Thanks for staying with me..." I said after a moment.

He smiled at me, "What are friends for?" I wondered for a moment what he saw me as; his sisters said that I'm like their brother. Does he think I'm just a friend or a little brother? Both of these answers made me upset... He saw my frown, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said looking at my lap.

He hugged me a moment before he said, "I'll make us something to eat, okay?" I nodded.

"Wait," He turned. "Danny how long have I been asleep?"

"I'm not sure, but not too long. Why?"

"Mary should be back by now shouldn't she?" He nodded. I jumped out of my bed and nearly stumbled onto the floor, "I knew I should have walked her home! I'm such an idiot!" I stumbled out the door not really caring about anything else. I was so worried about her. I started running. I vaguely heard Danny calling after me. All I could hear was the sound of my heart beating. I can't lose her! I can't lose her! I can't lose her! Please! Not again!

My mind slipped back to when I was six years old; fleeing into the night. I looked back to see my house engulfed in flames. A silhouette appeared backed by the flames. He was looking for me. I tried to hide, curling up into a ball and begging for my dad to come rescue me! To protect me from the people who killed her! He never came...

When I woke up from my flashback Danny was holding me, "It's okay... Shh... Everything's going to be okay..."

"... Danny...?"

"Shh... It's alright..."

"... I'm cold..."

"Hold on a moment," He said pulling off his jacket and wrapping it around me. "Everything's going to be okay," he picked me up and started carrying me. "I'll find Marylyn. Don't worry okay?" I was too out of my mind to think, let alone speak, all my body could do was fall asleep again.

When I woke up I wasn't in my home. I looked around groggily. I blushed when I fully realized where I was; Danny's room. He had put me on his bed. The door was open a crack and I could hear him and Joan talking. "I haven't found her... I'm really worried..." Daniel said.

My blood ran cold... "It'll all be okay," Joan said, "We'll find her, I'm sure." They have her now and it's all my fault! I'm such an idiot! Sobs broke free. What am I supposed to do? I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Sweetheart, it's okay. I'm sure she's fine."

I shook my head, my hand covering my mouth; I was too afraid to speak. "Will... We'll find her," Danny told me.

I removed my hand, "No you won't..." I whispered, "I know..." My voice broke, "I know who took her..."

"Who would take her!?" Joan asked, "She's just a little girl!"

I started crying again. I couldn't help it. I kept remembering when they killed my mom. I don't even know why they were after us. Why they killed her and tried to kidnap me. But I do know why they took Marylyn. "We'll get her back I promise," Daniel said.

"You can't," I shouted, "They'll kill you! Just like they killed our parents!" The horrified look on their faces unnerved me. I looked down and curled my fingers around the fabric on my knees. I didn't mean for that to slip.

Joan started crying, Danny too, "You poor little things..." Joan hugged me.

Danny hugged me too, which only made me cry more. "How long have you been alone?" Danny asked.

"... Since I was six..." It came out in a whisper.

They hugged me tighter, "Everything's going to be okay. We just have to have hope..." I felt like giving up. I was so scared. What am I doing!? I tightened my hands into fists. Am I so scared that I'd just abandon my best friend!? My sister!? I'm all she has and I'm thinking of giving up!? No! Determination and anger fueled me into standing. They will not take my family from me again! "Sweetheart?" Joan asked.

"I'm going to find her. By myself," I added glaring at Daniel.

"No way!" he shot back.

"You will do no such thing!" Joan scolded.

"You're not coming," I said pushing past Joan and leaving. Daniel blocked the doorway and glared at me. "Out of the way!"

"No."

"I'm going to save my sister!"

"Not without me you aren't," he crossed his arms.

"Danny... Will..." Joan said worriedly. "Who has her?" she asked hesitantly.

"Shin-Ra," My eyes continuing to challenge Danny.

"Shin-Ra?" he asked dropping his arms.

"Shin-Ra!?" Joan's voice grew a bit shrill, "You plan to go up against Shin-Ra!?"

"... I will not leave her there to be experimented on and tortured!" I said partially to myself. This is mad! I could end up getting caught myself! How can I rescue her!?

Joan's sobs grew and the color drained from Daniel's face. He opened his mouth to speak, swallowed, then tried again, "Experiment...?"

I realized I may have said too much. I pushed past him and started leaving. He grabbed my arm, "You're not stopping me!" I shouted at him.

"This is foolish!" Joan said.

"What else do you want me to do!? Wait!? Leave her there!?" I shouted.

She held her face in her hands for a moment, "No... No... Of course not..." The mourning on her face was gut wrenching. I could tell she was already seeing all three of us buried. "There's no good answer..." She cried.

I dropped my eyes. I didn't want her to feel like that. I didn't want any of this... Then I remembered something, "She's already escaped once... They would've increased security. But it still means we have a chance..."

I realized we had gathered some attention when I heard, "What's going on Grandma?"

I looked over to see Danny's three sisters watching us worriedly. I felt someone take my hand, "You and Marylyn are my grandchildren just as much as Danny and the girls. I couldn't bear to see anything happen to any of you."

I couldn't look at her when I said, "All we have is each other... From our lives before... I can't leave her..."

She kissed my hand and pet it, "I know sweetheart... And I'm not asking you to... But please, be careful... Take some supplies with you... Promise us you'll come back."

"I'm not going to let him travel up there alone," Daniel said, "Sorry grandma, but I'm going too."

"Going where!?" One of his sisters asked. "What's happening!?"

"Marylyn's been kidnapped..." Joan paused a moment barely able to say the rest, "Will and Danny are going to save her."

They looked so scared; scared they would never see us again. I couldn't blame them. I could tell by the look on Joan's face that she felt like she was sending us off to die. "I'll come back, I promise," I said.

"We will come home," Danny said giving me a look of challenge.

"We'll be waiting for you," Joan said.

We said our goodbyes, grabbed our supplies and left, "Okay, she's been gone a while so we can safely assume she's in their Headquarters' by now," Danny said, "Our best bet is to take the trains up... But how will we sneak in and out...?"

Then it hit me, "AVALANCHE! They know how to get in and out of Shin-Ra!"

"What!? H-how would we even find them!?"

"Ask around maybe? Someone at the train station might know. Or probably our best bet is to find some shady looking guy and ask-."

He grabbed my arm and turned me to look at him. His face was inches from mine when he said, "We are not going to go around talking to the shadiest people we can find and asking them where we can find a terrorist group!"

"Seems logical," I said.

"No it doesn't! That could get us killed!"

I stopped, He thinks this is a fool's errand, so why is he even here!? "Why are you even going to come with me if you think we're going to be killed?" I demanded.

"I didn't-," his demeanor changed, "I didn't mean that Will... I just don't want you to get hurt..." He said softly. The concerned look in his eyes stole my breath. "We will find her. And when we do we'll all come back home and be safe. Okay? We can't make any rash decisions."

Normally I might've gotten even more angry with that last sentence but the look on his face melted it away. After a moment I nodded, "Okay."

He sighed in relief, "Good," he smiled at me, "Now let's get to Sector Seven. We can figure out the next step there."

Sector Seven was not how I thought it would be. Everyone was screaming! Gunshots and screams resounded throughout the village. A crowd of people had gathered at the base of the pillar watching in suspense at the war that raged above. Others were running around in terror like a frightened flock of chickens in a pen; they didn't know where to go. We ran up to the pillar and asked what was going on, "Shin-Ra's planin' on bringin' the plate down right on top of us!"

"What!?" I knew it before but, God, these guys are pure evil!

"That there AVALANCHE is up top there fightin' em!"

"AVALANCHE?" I wanted it to be easy to find these guys, but not like this!

"We have to help!" Daniel said. I looked at him surprised; I knew he was brave and cared deeply about other people, but I still wasn't expecting him to say that.

We heard a scream, looking up above we saw a heavyset man fall from the pillar. I jumped and shuddered when he landed right next to us; my hands flew to my mouth as I stared at him. Daniel rushed to see if he was okay, but a blonde man was there first to tend to him. "Wedge! You all right?"

That's his friend...? "Cloud... You... Remembered my name..." he paused a moment "Barret's up top... Help him... An' Cloud...? Sorry I wasn't any help..." After that last word he remained motionless... He died... Another person died because of Shin-Ra... I won't let that be Marylyn! I found myself running up the stairwell to the top of the pillar. I heard Daniel shout my name and follow me. Cloud swore and more footsteps rang behind me.

Passing two AVALANCHE members on my way up was very difficult. There was nothing I could do for them... That drove my need to go faster, if I didn't hurry everyone would die! There was one last man at the top of the pillar shooting at the helicopter. He must be Barret, I thought. He heard me, "What you doin' up here kid?"

"Helping AVALANCHE!" is all I told him, he gave me a sad smile. I turned to see Daniel run up behind me, immediately followed by Cloud and a dark haired woman.

"Cloud! Tifa! You came...! Be careful! They're attacking from the helicopter."

"What are you two doing up here?" Tifa asked us.

"We want to help you," Daniel said, "You're AVALANCHE right?"

"Sure are. We're fightin' to save the planet! I'm Barret, that's Cloud and Tifa. You?"

"Daniel."

"William."

"It's good to meet ya," Barret said.

"We need to prepare before they attack in full force," Tifa said.

We all readied our weapons; I watched Cloud pass out materia to his friends. I don't even think my blade has a materia slot, but that's okay, I'd prefer to rely on my blade, body, and brains any day. It's too unpredictable.

Cloud looked to me and Danny, "Here you might need this," he held out a green materia to me, "Curative materia." I was surprised he was willing to trust us.

I was about to decline but Danny spoke first, "Thanks, but are you sure?" He nodded. Danny smiled and put it into a materia slot on his blade. He smiled at me, "We can do this!" I nodded. The helicopter drew nearer to us and a man jumped out.

He ran up to the main control console, I tried to stop him but he reached it before me, "You're too late. Once I press this button..."

"No!"

"That's all, folks! Mission accomplished!"

"Why would you kill all these people!?" Danny asked.

"Orders are orders," he said.

"Even when they come from the Devil himself," I added.

"We have to disarm it! Cloud! Barret! Please!"

"Can't have you do that. No one gets in the way of Reno and the Turks," Reno said before launching himself at Cloud. Tifa immediately stepped in and grabbed his arm to throw him but he twisted himself around and zapped her with the EMR. I saw pure fury and hatred in Cloud's face when she fell. He slashed at Reno while he was off guard; catching his left arm. Barret shot at Reno whenever we were clear and managed to graze him in the side. I watched as Reno turned his gaze to Barret, raising his EMR to strike him. I used that moment to slide in and block the blow before he got to close. Sometimes it was good to be kinda small. I had surprised him into leaving himself open, I tried to disarm him while kneeing him in the stomach. He groaned as my knee hit his side, but came back to hit me with the EMR that I'd failed to knock clear. I felt my body rack in pain as the electricity went through me, my vision blacked for a moment and I hit the ground.

"You son of a *****!" I heard Daniel shout. My vision returned slowly. I saw Cloud and Barret had knocked him away from me, Daniel came to my side. I glanced over at Reno a moment, did Danny make that cut on his face? "Are you okay?" He asked me gently as he held out his hand.

I blushed as I let him help me up, "Yeah."

"Good."

We all heard a beeping sound and Reno looked at his watch, "It's time." he muttered before running and jumping off the edge of the platform.

Tifa ran over to the control console, "Cloud, I don't know how to stop this!"

"It's not a normal time bomb," he said.

We heard the helicopter, "That's right. Only a Shin-Ra executive can set up or disarm an emergency plate release system."

"Please! Stop it!" Tifa yelled.

My eyes widened as I recognized a rose clip attached to a wisp of brown hair, "Marylyn!"

She looked out at us, "William! Daniel! Help!"

"Oh, so you know one of our special guests?"

"Let her go!" Daniel yelled.

Another woman tried to get to the edge of the helicopter, "Aerith!" Tifa yelled.

"Oh, so you know both of them! It's so nice that you all get to see each other one last time," He said, "You should thank me."

"What are you gonna do with them!?" Cloud asked.

"Our orders were to find and capture the last remaining Ancients. It's taken us a long time but now I can finally report to the President."

"Tifa! She's alright! Don't worry!" Aerith called down. The man smacked her for talking.

"Aerith!"

I growled, "Don't worry Mary, I promise I'll protect you! I'll find you!"

She was crying... God! I wanted to punch him the face! "I know."

"Hurry! Get out of here!" Aerith yelled.

"It should be starting now," The man grinned wickedly, "Think you can escape?"


	3. Love

"All those people...! We couldn't save them..."

Barret growled and cursed as he shot the rubble which used to be the entrance to Sector Seven, "Marlene! Biggs! Wedge! Jesse!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, "We tried kid..." I looked up to see Cloud.

"Everyone... Everyone's always dying!"

"Will..." Danny rested his hand on me.

I grabbed Cloud's sleeve, "You have to help me save my sister! Please! We came looking for you! Looking for AVALANCHE. Because we knew you could help us break into Shin-Ra and save her!"

For a moment I saw a strange flash in his eyes. I didn't quite understand what it was. Finally he said, "We'll help you rescue your sister..."

We all started heading back to Sector Five to tell Joan and Aerith's mom what had happened. Joan was extremely relieved to know we wouldn't be fighting alone but was horrified at everything else. She asked how we would get up to the top plate since the trains were destroyed. We weren't quite sure but Cloud had suggested we head to Wall Market, that we may find something there.

When we arrived at Aerith's house I was surprised to see her beautiful garden. It was amazing to know something like this was actually growing in the slums! The five of us headed inside the small cottage. We all had a conversation about Aerith and the Cetra. I knew Mary was a Cetra because that is what they told her when they imprisoned her and were experimenting on her, but other than that I don't know anything about them. It hurt hearing that Aerith had gone through the same things Mary had. I kept thinking about how much she needed me... Cloud started talking about Marylyn.

"So Aerith isn't alone...? Who is this girl?"

"William's sister," Cloud said motioning towards me. I saw Elmyra glance at me for a moment then look back and inspect me.

She didn't say anything. It kind of unnerved me a little. The others seemed to notice too as they looked between us, "Yeah?"

"... Sorry... You just... Remind me of someone..."

"Who?" I asked warily. I lived in Kalm for the first six years of my life, then in Sector Five, but in all the time I've lived here I don't think I've met her or Aerith... Which sounds kind of odd if you think about it since this place is rather small, but yeah.

"A man named Gray," she said, "He helped Aerith and Ifalna escape the Laboratory..."

My heart stopped for a moment. My mouth felt dry, "W-when...?"

She thought for a moment, "About 15 years ago. He told me he used to be a Shin-Ra Scientist." Dad...? I wondered. My heart beat loudly in my ears and I grew a bit anxious.

"You didn't mention him before..." Cloud said.

She seemed to realize something and bent her head apologetically, "I'm sorry for lying to you, but he made me promise not to tell anyone." She looked up at us quickly, "Please, don't breathe a word of him at all, not even that you know he exists, the poor man's been through so much..."

"We wouldn't say anything," Tifa said.

"What happens in here stays in here," Cloud said.

"Thank you," she said. "I wasn't planning on saying anything..." She said looking at me, "But you look so much like him that I thought you might be..." she trailed off and stuttered, "M-Marlene's upstairs..."

"Marlene!" Barret said as he started talking to her.

I had to get out of there. I couldn't breathe! I ran out the door as quick as I could into the garden. I tried to force air into my lungs as I paced around the garden... Gray... That's dad's name... Was he... Really here...? Why...? Tears filled my eyes. Why didn't he ever come back for me!? I looked around to throw something. I saw a stone, grabbed it, and threw it as hard as I could into the water nearby. "Will?" I jumped and spun around to see Danny, "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," I knew it was obvious that I was lying but I didn't want to say anymore.

"Is he your dad?"

"Even if he was he isn't anymore! He abandoned me and left my mother to die!" I screamed at him. I closed my mouth quickly. I closed my eyes with my hands covering my mouth. I didn't want to yell at Danny. I jumped when I felt him hug me.

"Hey. It's okay..." he pet my hair, "It's okay..."

"Why did he leave me...?"

"I don't know. But we'll find him someday and we'll ask him okay?"

"I don't want to see him!"

"Are you sure? Or is that pain talking?"

"... I didn't used to cry this much..."

He laughed a bit, "Don't worry."

"I feel so weak..."

"Crying isn't a weakness Will. It's a sign of being human. You're healing, slowly and painfully... But you're healing..."

I chuckled, "I thought boys weren't supposed to cry though?"

He laughed "Being raised with three sisters, I never believed that lie."

"I never understood why they would cry after breaking a nail," I mused.

He smiled, "See? Cheer up."

I laughed and punched him playfully, "I think you act more like a girl than-!" I stopped myself.

"Than who?" he asked.

I was about to say me! I can't think of anyone else to say! I looked away, "Never mind..." I looked back to the cottage, "We should go see if they're ready," I glanced at him a moment before heading down the incline. I couldn't quite read him but he seemed... Disappointed...? I looked back, "You coming?"

"Yeah," he started walking. "I was thinking," he paused a moment, "We should tell Elmyra-."

I knew where this was heading and stopped. I turned to face him, "Don't," I warned him.

"But if he's your-."

I cut him off again, "Daniel. Promise me you won't tell anyone." It wasn't just that I didn't want to see him. The major problem was; I was terrified. I don't know why they wanted me, but if they were willing to kill mom... I didn't want to experience their plan...

"Will-."

"Danny. It's not that I wouldn't want to see my dad... If! That's him," I whispered. "But Shin-Ra killed my mom remember?"

He cursed, "You shouldn't even go up there. If they-!"

"You try to stop me and I'll knock you out!" I growled.

"You'd be putting yourself in danger Will!"

"Don't care!" I said turning.

"Well I do!" he said grabbing my arm and forcing me to face him.

"They wouldn't even recognize me!"

"And why is that?" he asked.

"Because I-!" I stopped, I almost slipped again, "I'm going," I glared at him, pulling my arm out of his grasp.

He sighed angrily and wiped his face with his hands. I turned and stormed off.

***Daniel's POV

Will can be so stubborn! I thought exasperated. I know she's worried but telling Elmyra might be a good thing... God, I hope I don't make things worse! I sighed and watched as everyone filed out of the house. "We all ready to go?" Cloud asked.

"Ready," Will said glancing at me, I could see the challenge in her eyes.

"Actually, I have to go to the bathroom," I said. Will gave me a wary look. Not technically a lie... I thought as I headed inside. I finished and quickly started talking to Elmyra, "You know that man, Gray?" I asked.

She looked a bit upset, "Please-."

"No wait! I think he may be Will's father..."

She shook her head, "He can't be. He had-..." she sighed, "Gray had a little girl."

I knew it! "My grandma Joan and I think that Will is just pretending to be a guy. Will said that she used to live in Kalm and that Shin-Ra killed her mother, when she was six years old. She's sixteen now."

Her eyes widened, "That would make sense! Poor girl... He went looking for her you know. He's never stopped searching for her," tears formed in her eyes, "He said he was never able to hold her..."

"Why not?"

"He had to stay away from his family to keep them safe. He said that Shin-Ra found out something about him," she shook her head, "I don't think he said what... But he was being experimented on as well..."

My heart froze. I-I don't know what I what do if someone hurt her... I mean Marylyn's like my sister, I can't stand the thought of her being there, but Will... I tried to speak, "D-do you have any way of contacting him?"

"Yes, actually!" she said rummaging in a drawer. She froze, "She's not going up there with you!? If they catch her-!"

"That's why I need you to contact him... She won't listen to me, she's too stubborn!" I said frustrated.

"Oh God... Okay, I'll contact him as soon as possible."

I stopped a moment, "She believes he abandoned her and her mom."

"Oh God no. He loves his little girl!"

"Did-did he ever tell you her name?"

"Yes he-,"

"Wait. I'll wait for her to tell me... Don't tell anyone about this but him, okay? Not even Will, she'd kill me." She nodded and I headed out. I hope Will won't hate me for this...

***Lianna's POV

He's taking too long! He better not tell her! He promised me! I was pacing furiously outside.

"We'll save her Will," Tifa told me.

I stopped. God I had almost forgotten about her! What the hell is wrong with me! Her life is more important than my silly fears! "Thank you," I said looking away from her. In that moment Daniel finally came out, I sighed in relief.

"Okay, let's go," Cloud said.


	4. Family

After visiting Wall Market I was very glad I was disguised. Note to self, I will never allow Marylyn to come here! A sleazy looking man came closer to us and Danny placed himself between us. The man just gave us a sick grin and continued on, when he saw Tifa though he whistled at her and winked. She looked absolutely disgusted, I'm pretty sure we all did. I saw Cloud glaring as he stepped forward, he opened his mouth to speak but Tifa beat him to it, "Get lost creep!"

The man glared and growled in annoyance but walked off. I smirked, I really like Tifa. I blushed when I felt Danny's hand on my back, I looked at him. He was looking behind him at the man, I don't even think he noticed what he was doing. I didn't say anything. I really liked his attention. Wait... Why was he doing that? I looked at him again. This isn't really something a friend would do... A brother...? I frowned, I don't know... What if he does like me... But the guy me...? That thought made my stomach clench with anxiety, I felt cold. I just wanted to curl up into a ball right there... I walked away from his hand, making him realize what he had been doing. I hugged myself... I couldn't help it...

I wasn't really paying attention, so when the group stopped abruptly I walked right into Cloud, I stepped back embarrassed. He turned around and looked at me for a moment before turning back around. A group of kids ahead of us were talking about a wire reaching to the plate above. "Let's follow 'em!" Barret said excitedly.

We ran after them into a small rubble filled area with graffiti tagging nearly everything. I looked up at the wall that separated us from the ruins of Sector Seven, I shivered at the memory. On the wall someone tagged "AVERLS"... How the hell did they get up there? I wondered.

A little girl stood alone at the bottom of the wire looking up fearfully. "Everyone climbed up this wire but I'm too scared..." She said when she saw us.

"Can we climb up?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah. It leads to the upper world," she said awed. Poor thing, she's probably never seen anything but the Slums... Never even really seen the sky... That made me hate Shin-Ra even more, which is surprising considering how much they've taken from me.

"Awright! Let's go!" Barret said enthusiastically as he stomped towards the wire.

"Wait!" Cloud said, "We don't even know how far up it goes."

"It's worth a shot," Daniel said. "There's not really another way up is there?"

"That's true," Cloud pondered.

"I agree," I said, "It may be our only chance. But we should buy some supplies to be safe."

Daniel smiled at me. Cloud nodded, "Good idea." We got all our supplies and started climbing up one by one. There was even more graffiti closer to the top. Seriously, how the hell did they get up here!?

We heard the children at the top of the wall blame Shin-Ra. I'm glad they know who the real bad guys are. The way up was difficult and in some places we needed to use batteries to get the machinery to help us up to the top. I laughed, I guess Cloud's glad we listened to the weird shopkeeper.

It took a long time, and at some places I thought we would fall to our deaths, but we made it to the top... We're here... My gut clenched tightly. I was afraid I'd either vomit right there or succumb to the flashbacks that tried to bombard my mind... I clenched my eyes tightly and tried to breathe... I tried to focus on what made me happy... But all of those happy things were tainted. My breath shuddered. I felt a hand on my shoulder, "William?" I opened my eyes to see Cloud. "Everything's going to be okay." I didn't realize I was clenching my teeth until I tried to open them. It felt like I had to unhinge my jaw just to open my mouth. "Are you having a flashback?" he asked. Not yet, but I still nodded, unable to speak. "Do you know you have PTSD?" I nodded again. I glanced to the others and could see them watching me. I don't think they noticed what had happened until Cloud pointed it out. I looked at Daniel. He looked so worried, he looked like he wanted to hug me again but was forcing himself to stay back. "Look at me," I did, "You're gonna be fine. You are not where you were. You're safe." I couldn't help it, I glanced at the Shin-Ra building towering behind him. I started shaking, "Look at me," I looked back.

I heard Barret curse, "Poor kid... Shouldn't be here..."

I shook again, "Not helping, Barret," Cloud said softly. Barret apologized. "William?" he asked, "Do you think you should head back down the wire? We'll-."

"I can't leave her..." I managed to say.

"No. No of course not..."

I breathed in quickly, "I can do this."

Cloud nodded, "You can... You can choose to go back down, and let us save Marylyn and no one would think badly of you if you did. Or you can summon your courage and help save her."

I thought for a moment... "I can't run away. Not again..." I said.

"Alright," he nodded, "You ready?"

I breathed in heavily and nodded. Tifa came over to Cloud and whispered to him, "Are you sure about this Cloud?" she asked glancing at me.

"It's not my choice. I can't force him."

"You're right."

In a way, I was mad that they were babying me, but on the other. The part that took over most. I was glad to have people there that cared about me. I may have just met them, but it feels like I've known them for a long time.

I pulled myself together and we drew up a plan, the back staircase would be unguarded and without cameras. I guess they thought no one would be desperate enough to hike up sixty flights of stairs to reach the door. We decided to sneak in that way. And god I really knew why at about somewhere around the thirtieth floor I guessed. I'm fit, very in shape, I train every single day! But I was praying to be at the top. Finally! We made it! I wanted to take a moment to rest but at the same time, we were wasting time and I could hardly stand that place. Did dad seriously work here? Is it his fault mom died? I wanted to know more! For the longest time I blamed him, because I was just so upset. I want to know why! Why wasn't he there!? Why did Shin-Ra kill her!? They had no use for her... That thought stopped me cold... I mean it's so obvious but, God! They didn't try to kill me! They tried to kidnap me! Tears stung my eyes. Did they kill her just so they could take me...? Is it my fault...? No! It's Shin-Ra's! Hatred burned in my eyes; I know who killed her! He's probably in this building at this very moment! The thought that her killer could be less than a mile away filled me to the brim with a mixture of fear and pure hatred.

As we made our way through each floor, I was surprised to find some very helpful Shin-Ra employees. Some were completely ignorant, the others filled me with hope. Who am I kidding, both groups filled me with hope. If a lot of Shin-Ra's employees are this ignorant, this may be a lot easier than expected! I don't want to get my hopes up though. I need to stay alert regardless.

We finally made our way to the 66th floor, where the Executive's Meetings were held and to our luck they were just about to hold one. Oddly enough we talked to some employees and discovered a place to listen to the meeting by piecing together their 'clues'. Obviously though it had to be the bathroom, not that I'm squeamish or anything though. We looked through the stalls of both the women and men's bathrooms only having to wait for one person to leave thankfully. The men's stall on the far left had just what we needed. Cloud pried off the vent cover and climbed up. Soon it was Danny's turn, I couldn't help but laugh when his foot slipped into the toilet. He cursed as he pulled out his soaking wet ankle and glared at me. I watched him warily as I saw his glare slowly changing into a mischievous grin. Before I could react he ruffled my hair and climbed up like a monkey. I turned my head quickly so Tifa couldn't see me blushing, thankfully though we were the last ones up, so no one else could've seen.

We both climbed up and saw the others stopped at a certain vent cover in the weirdly oversized ventilation duct. The fat cats were talking about Sector Seven, but the President quickly dismissed it in favor of 'the Ancients'. My body grew cold and I could feel a pit forming in my stomach. We heard the door open and a man in a white lab coat walked in. I couldn't breathe. I felt so cold. My body shook as I tried not to remember! I wanted to scream and curl up into a ball but I could only whimper... There's the man who killed my mom; that was the last thing I could think before I blacked out.

I had come in for dinner after playing with Marylyn, "I'm home!" I saw the pot still cooking on the stove, the smell of burning food wafted through the kitchen, "... Mama...?" I whispered scared. I turned off the stove and heard rustling upstairs, I heard shouting.

I crept up the staircase quietly, "Please! Please! Just leave!" I peeked through the crack in the doorway and saw mom on the floor; a man had a gun to her head, keeping her in place with his boot.

"Where's the specimen? Hmm?" A man in a white lab coat asked.

"Please! There's no one else here!"

"You live alone then?" He asked.

"Yes! Please, just let me go!"

"Oh, really? Then what's this?" He held Mr. Stuffims my teddy bear pinched between his fingers.

"I-I babysit sometimes."

"You babysit?" He mocked.

"Yes! Please!" I couldn't handle seeing her cry, "Just let me go!" She said moving her head to look up at him. She saw me and her face grew even more horrified than before.

The man looked over to me and grinned wickedly, "Ahh! There she is!"

"Mama...?" I asked.

"Run Sweetie, Run!" she screeched.

"Shut her up!" he ordered the man with the gun.

"Get away! Hide!"

I did what she said. I ran down the staircase as quickly as I could. I nearly tripped several times, but on the last step I did, I saw the floor coming up quickly. A man grabbed me before I hit the ground, "I got her!"

I screamed and bit him, my mom must of heard me, because she screamed my name. When he cursed and dropped me I picked myself up as quickly as I could and ran out the door. I turned left, going behind the house and running into the field. The thick waist-high grass stuck to my legs making it hard to run. My knee hit a rock but I kept running, too afraid to stop.

Stars were my only companions beyond the warming light of the house... The only ones protecting me... Keeping me concealed yet helping to light my way.

I tripped over a rock, tumbling into the grass, "Where'd that little brat go!?"

A large lone rock sat nearby. I crawled over to it leaning against it like it was my protector as I hid from my pursuers, "Mommy! Daddy! Please daddy, please protect me! I need you! Daddy! Please!" I leaned against the rock that shielded me from them. I wanted it to be my father... I curled into a tight ball. I said those same words over and over in my head, as if repeating them could somehow summon him.

"Find that little brat!" I shivered. "I cannot lose such a precious specimen!"

I whimpered. "Daddy...! Please...! Please protect me...! I need you..!"

For a while I sat there shivering in deafening silence, only my stifled tears broke through the permeating darkness. Everything was lost in a void of fear; there weren't any owls to say hello, or even any crickets to sing their songs, it felt like they had all left me. Were they afraid too...? I shuddered as the smell of burnt fabric, wood, and other repulsive things hit my nose... I curled up tighter; the silence broken by flames. I could hear roaring, creaking, the sounds growing more intense as time passed. "I want that specimen brought back to me immediately! Unharmed!"

They would find me if I stayed here. My only chance was to flee into the night, the crippling fear tried to hold me in place but I struggled to pull myself up anyways. I stumbled to my feet; my tightened muscles screaming, and yet, as I set into the motion it grew somewhat easier... I stopped, Where would I go? I turned to look back at the only safe place I had known. The warm comforting cottage where my mother had taken care of me was gone... The flames had consumed everything... All I could see was fire... My home was completely unrecognizable, "Mama..."

Even from here the heat scorched my skin; threatening to consume me. A silhouette appeared against the flames; they were searching for me. I turned on my heels, continuing to flee into the darkness, I couldn't see what I would do next, all I knew was that I had to keep running. It felt like my life was ending, so scared and unsure of what to do, I begged for it to be a nightmare. That I would wake to Mama holding me and petting me... I wanted to wake up, but I didn't... I was trapped within this nightmare now, no one could save me... I kept running, at some point I even forgot how to stop. Even as my lungs burned, my muscles ached, and darkness crowded my vision I couldn't stop... What was preventing me from losing consciousness, was the very thing that threatened me; fear... I could feel bile rising in my throat but I couldn't stop, my stomach told me I had to but I couldn't... The last thing I remember was seeing a wasteland before me...

I woke to see all my new companions surrounding me. I could feel Daniel shake as he held onto me, worry was etched into his face. Cloud was knelt down next to me, his face showing the same concerned look as Daniel yet not as strong, he looked more calm and controlled, "Another flashback?" he asked. I nodded, "Hojo?"

I shivered but tried to relax my muscles, "The man in the lab coat...?"

"Yeah," He nodded.

"... He killed my mom..." I said quietly.

Barret cursed, I could feel the anger radiating from him. I could tell Tifa was struggling to hold back her tears, I could feel the empathy she had for me. For some reason it seemed to settle me a bit, "I'm so sorry..." Cloud said.

Danny shook more violently. His expression was unreadable, but I knew what he must be feeling. My eyes drifted to my hands that were clenched together tightly in my lap, "Now I know the name of her murderer..."

"Will..." I raised my gaze to Danny, "I think you should stay here, while we rescue Mary and Aerith, we'll come back to get you."

"What?" I asked. I was feeling dazed; like I was still in the process of waking, but even so, him saying that still didn't feel right to me...

"Look. If Hojo was after you, what do you think will happen when he finds you?"

The atmosphere thickened with the realization. I struggled to breathe. Walking right into the hands of the enemy... Mom would be upset with me. I tightened my hands further, shifting my gaze to them. "I agree, you need to stay hidden," Cloud said, "But at the same time, leaving you alone wouldn't be the best idea."

"No matter what you try to do I'll follow you guys," I summoned up my courage to glare at each one of them individually, "I made her a promise that I would always protect her."

"The big brother promise..." I heard Tifa whisper. Did her big brother make a promise to protect her? I wondered. That made me think about myself; I wish I had an older brother to look after me and protect me, maybe then things wouldn't have been so hard...

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, I've trained my whole life to protect myself... To protect her... I promised my childhood friend, the only one alive who knows who I really am, that I would protect her... I have to be brave! I have to be strong! All we have is each other! I am a strong woman and this time I will stand up to Hojo! I won't let him hurt anyone else! I opened my eyes, "Let's go," I stood up shakily.

"Will..." I looked at him, I felt guilty for not telling him the truth about myself. I have to do this though.

"Don't even start..." I glared at him.

He growled, "You're as stubborn as a mule!"

"I have to do this!" I snapped at him.

He closed his mouth quickly. Cloud rubbed the back of his neck and motioned his hand to the door. I peeked outside and realized we were on a different floor. "Which way?" I asked as we stepped out.

"Follow me," Cloud said walking down a long white hallway with flickering blue lights trailing the wall. I shivered. The place looked so sterile. So enclosed. I found it hard to breathe. Quit psyching yourself out!

We followed him to a strange room with storage boxes stacked up along the wall to our left. A glowing purple light filtered into the room from a panel on the wall to our right and a circular glass cage sat on the left with a strange creature inside. I saw Cloud walk up to the purple glow. I opened my eyes widely when I recognized what was happening. I went to him, "Cloud?" I asked softly.

Tifa ran over, "What happened!? Cloud!?" she held onto him as he sagged to the floor. She hugged him close to her.

"PTSD," I said.

"Jenova... Sephiroth's... So... They brought it here..." he said vaguely.

"Jenova?" I asked.

"Cloud, be strong!" Tifa said.

"Did you see it?" he asked.

I went over and looked in, Barret and Daniel behind me. "What... Is that?" I asked. I didn't realize I had started backing up until I hit Barret. The evil emanating from that... That... Thing! Was unbearable! I had to get out of there! I tried not to run as I went over to the cage. I used my breathing technique, ignoring their conversation as I slowly relaxed. I turned to look at the creature, "Poor thing... How long have you been in there?" I slid down to kneel beside it. "When we rescue Marylyn and Aerith, we'll save you too, I promise."

"Will." I looked over to Cloud, "You ready?"

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He looked away a moment, "I'll manage... Come on. Let's go get the girls."

"Yeah," I nodded. We boarded the lift on the opposite side of the room after checking our equipment. My heart pounded as the lift rose higher and higher, I could feel the moment it stopped; when we heard the ding of the doors opening. The party stepped out in front of me to block Hojo's view of me. Would-would he really recognize me? He was willing to kill mom to get me... Of course he would... Mom...

"Aerith!"

"Marylyn!" Daniel yelled.

I couldn't speak... I could hardly even breathe... My body was fighting back and forth between PTSD and rage. I couldn't really tell what was going on around me. Everything was so surreal. I didn't even notice Danny slip his hand in mine as he stood between me and my tormentor, protecting me from the world. I stood there, frozen in my horror. "Will! Help!" I snapped out of my shock, the creature I had promised to save was attacking my sister...!

"Mary!" I ran to her. Surprised, I found myself pulled back and into Danny's arms. I tried to pull away, "Danny! Let go!"

He held me firm, "No, Will."

"Let go!" Barret started shooting the glass causing smoke to rise and fill the cage, blocking our view of what was happening inside, "No stop!

Hojo hurriedly went to the controls and opened the cage, smoke billowed out as the red cat-like creature pounced onto Hojo. I finally burst free of Danny's arms, rushed into the cage and hugged Mary, she clutched onto me and trembled, "Lianna," she whimpered.

"Hey, it's okay. I've got you," I pet her hair.

"Are you okay Mary?" Daniel asked as he pet her.

She sniffled, "Yeah."

"I'm sorry but we have to get out of here quickly," he pulled us both up and led us away from Hojo, keeping himself between us. "I'm sorry, Mary," He hugged her and pet her again, "You two aren't safe here," he whispered looking at Mary.

She looked at me worriedly, "Will, I'm glad you came but... What will happen?"

She didn't have to finish that statement. I've pretty much just been going with the flow of my emotions and the things around me. When I thought about that I realized something; everything that has happened so far came together like the pieces of a puzzle! Is someone watching out for us? Whoever it was, I prayed they would guide us safely home.

"He's rather strong, I'll help you all out," the voice was new.

"It talked?" Tifa asked.

"I'll talk as much as you like later miss."

The three of us exchanged a glance but honestly with everything that happens in this world, I'm not that surprised. "We'll deal with this monster Tifa, Daniel, they need to be taken somewhere safe!" Cloud said.

"Alright, come on," she said running towards us and ushering us out of the room.

We left and found the storage area from before. Tifa made sure to be the first and last one in, she checked one last time that we weren't followed and shut the door. Daniel and Tifa grabbed some boxes and pushed them against the door making a barricade, before coming back over to us. "I'm glad you both are safe," Daniel placed a hand on both of us.

Aerith finished talking with Tifa and looked at me. I knew what was coming next, "I'm Aerith. What's your name?" she asked as she stared directly at me.

"William."

"Oh..." she paused a moment, "... You remind me of the man who saved my life..." ... Is he... Really my dad...? I wondered. She looked at Danny, "Aerith," she smiled holding out her hand.

"Daniel." I saw the gears working in his mind, "He must be a really great guy."

She looked down sadly, "He was. I really miss him."

My eyes widened, "D-did he die?" I wasn't expecting to say those words, but I was even more surprised of the passion and fear wrapped around them.

"No! God, I hope not! He's just," she looked down again, "He was like a dad to me... I never got to know my dad," she looked away, "My father died shortly after I was born..." she laughed sadly, "Strange... He had known my father, he told me stories about him..."

"I never knew my dad either," I said. I could feel Danny hug me and Mary hold my hand.

"I'm sorry."

"Although... I did get stories from my mom... Before she died," I don't even know why I told her those things. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and sat down in the corner. In a way I was glad none of them came over to me, but in another I wanted someone to hold me. I buried my head in my arm, I was so tired. As we waited I thought of my dad. Is he still alive? If he is, is he looking for me? What is he doing right now? Why didn't he ever come home? Was he imprisoned along with Aerith and her mother? Is that why he could never come home? All of these thoughts swam in my mind, I revisited each of them at least a dozen times. One thought that always lingered though; Mom loved him so much, she told me every day that one day he was going to come home and be so happy to meet me. She seemed to know that for a fact. But what if the truth was he didn't want me? That fear sunk its talons into my heart threatening to rip it to shreds... I wish I knew...


	5. Escape

A ringing was heard, he flipped open his phone, his heart sped up when he read the name on the message, "Elmyra?" he opened it and scanned it quickly, Aerith! He received another message directly afterward. The phone slipped from his hand, he struggled to regain his breath. Lianna... He clutched his chest as icy venom shot through his entire being. Lianna, why-!? Why would-!? He hesitated a moment before grappling with his phone, his fingers not seeming to want to cooperate. He grabbed it and thrust it into his pocket, "Why would she put herself in danger like this!?" He growled in frustration and held his hand over his mouth, My-my baby... Did I-did I finally-? Regaining his composure, he grabbed his bag and flung it over his shoulder. His fatherly instincts seized him, no one was going to hurt her anymore. He'd make sure of it.

*** Lianna's POV

My head shot up quickly, my gut clenched violently as we heard a pounding on the door, "Tifa!" We all breathed a sigh of relief and unblocked the door, "I'm glad you're all okay. We need to get out of here. It'll draw suspicion if we all sneak out together though. We need to break into groups."

I didn't like this idea but I went along with it anyways. The three of us were inseparable now so Cloud decided to join our group four and four. I didn't want Marylyn near a fight but at the same time I didn't want her defenseless. I was relieved when Cloud gave her some materia. I smiled when I realized he gave her another curative one, I felt like she should have it. She seems more to me like a healer than a fighter anyways, which is perfect because that's how I preferred it.

We agreed to meet up at the 66th floor elevator and headed out, but before that I saw a glow nearby. I picked it up with a grin, "Cloud!"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Think fast," I tossed the materia at him.

His face lit up with a mischievous smile as he inspected it, "Great job Will!"

We arrived at the elevators and went inside. As I stared into the eyes of a Turk I realized I should have gone with my gut feeling. "Would you press up, please?" He stepped aside and more got on the elevator.

The man who struck Aerith stood in front of me, my face contorted in disgust. He opened his mouth but I cut him off, "Filthy pig!" I spat.

"Excuse me?" He asked dangerously.

"Do you get a thrill out of hitting women? Does it make you feel stronger? Does it make you feel more like a man?" I sneered.

Cloud pushed me behind him and stepped in front of me. "Will," Cloud warned me. Oh, I wasn't done yet. I would've decked him right there if there had been room in the elevator.

The glares we gave each other intensified the atmosphere, ready to ignite at the smallest spark. I wasn't about to back down. "... It's quite cramped in here, I'll be sure to make sure your prison cells are much more comfortable," He smirked at me.

Good news: No one recognized me, Bad news: We were all imprisoned and separated from Marylyn and Aerith again. I kicked the door to our cell angrily. "Will-," Danny started.

"What?" I snapped angrily.

"We'll get out of this somehow, I'm sure of it. We just have to have faith." I sighed and slumped into the corner, Danny walked over and sat beside me. "I'm really glad you're alright," he said quietly. I could feel my heart beat a little faster. It didn't help that we were alone in the cell together. I buried my head in my arms to try to hide my emotions from him. He wrapped his arm around me making me jump slightly, "Don't worry. We'll all get home safe and sound."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, we have to have faith," he paused and I could hear humor in his voice, "And we made a promise to our family. We'll be in big trouble with grandma if we don't get back soon."

I laughed, "She can be pretty tough sometimes huh?" Our family...? I guess I didn't really think about how much I was a part of their family before. I know they cared about us, and we cared about them, but it always felt like it was only us. Marylyn and Lianna two orphaned girls from Kalm who are running away from Shin-Ra... I guess that's because we could never tell them the truth.

"Definitely," he laughed, "She can scare away monsters with just a glare!"

"I wish she could scare away these monsters..." I said quietly.

He hugged me tighter, "If she can't scare them away, I will. Don't worry." I blushed. Why is it that every time he's around I start acting more and more like a girl!? I'd been a boy for at least five years, made it real, no problems! Then as soon as he comes along I slip up! I can't even think straight around him! Ugh! He started stoking my back sending butterflies everywhere, Why do I have to react to him like this?

I woke up and saw Cloud talking to Danny... Wait what? "What's going on? How did you get in here?"

"I'm not sure. Someone left my door open," Cloud said. "But whoever did, killed the guard outside."

"Killed!?" I asked. We both got up quickly and rushed outside. Why is everyone dying!? I tried not to think about him or look at his face... Whoever did this... Even though they're Shin-Ra, this makes my blood run cold... "They could have easily killed us..."

"Why didn't they?" Daniel asked.

"Maybe it wanted us to see this..." Cloud said.

"It?" I asked. Cloud seemed to be lost in a painful memory. "Cloud?" I put my hand on his shoulder. I repeated what he told me, "You're not where you were. You're safe."

He looked at me and blinked like he hadn't even realized I was there, "Th-thanks..." He looked like he was still coming out of the daze. He shook his head, "Let's get going."

We went down the hallway and found more bodies. I couldn't look at them, it was all so horrific. The further we went the more gruesome it got. When we got to the lab I shook uncontrollably, that horrible thing... That evil... That's what did this... The whole dome it had been encased in had been shredded open and blood soaked the floor. I felt Danny grab me and realized I had almost fallen. "It'll be okay..." His face portrayed the opposite of what he was saying; he looked pale, like he was going to throw up. I'm pretty sure I looked the same.

Tifa went over to us worriedly placing a hand on our shoulders, "It'll be okay."

"Wh-where's Mary...? She- she can't see this..."

"She's with Aerith and Cloud right now. He's trying to lead them through without them having to see it."

"Th-thank you," I could barely look at her, let alone say it, I was feeling really dizzy. The acrid smell of the blood was so strong I couldn't handle it anymore. My stomach rejected its meager contents. Tifa got us out of there quickly, I don't even really think she could cope very well. I'm pretty sure the only reason she wasn't like me was because she was desperately trying to hold it together.

The others needed to know what had caused this trail so we had to go up. Tifa led us to floor 69 and found a room void of blood. There were even a few vending machines and soft couches. She helped me to lie down on one of them and got me a drink from the machine, "Here. It'll help settle your stomach." They helped me sit up and even brought me a trash bucket... I felt really sad yet somewhat happy... I haven't really had anyone to really take care of me since mom died. I was always taking care of Mary. Being the older sister and sacrificing my own needs for her. Not that I would change that, I'm going to take care of her for as long as she needs me... But it was nice having someone take care of me for a change. Tifa felt like my older sister in a way. I couldn't quite explain it, I don't trust easily and yet somehow even though I haven't known them for very long; Tifa, Cloud, and Barret felt like a part of my family. Maybe its because we've all lost someone special to us, I could see it in their eyes, even without them telling me. We've all lost someone and felt lost ourselves. Even Aerith and Nanaki were starting to feel like a part of my family.

Cloud, Mary and Aerith arrived in the room. Mary looked terrified, she ran over to me and hugged me. "Be careful Mary he's not feeling well," Daniel said.

"Sorry Will," she said easing up a bit.

"It's okay."

"I'm gonna go see where the trail leads, will you watch after them Tifa?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah," she nodded as he left. While they were gone Tifa took care of us like a mother; making sure we were all feeling safe and well.

I rested on the couch. How long have we been here? It feels like forever, I can't wait to get out of here. The door burst open suddenly, making us all jump. "Yo, we gotta get a move on!" Barret said.

"Where's Cloud?" Tifa and Aerith asked worriedly.

"He's up top fighting Rufus Shin-Ra, the president's son... Well turns out he's the new president now. But no time for that we gotta get movin'."

"But what about Cloud?" Aerith asked.

"I'll stay behind and look after him okay?" Tifa said, "The rest of you get to the elevators!"

"Awright," Barret agreed, "Yo! Time to get a move on everybody!"

We all got ourselves together quickly and started heading out. We made it to the elevator and started going down. I seriously thought the elevator would go faster than this, I mean I know it's the 69th floor but still! My gut clenched with anxiety. I just wanted to be out of here, and being in a small elevator attached to the outside of the building with nothing but a sheet of glass separating us from a fall to our deaths did not help one bit. Anyone could see into this elevator! A helicopter, a drone, anything could start shooting at us and we'd be sitting ducks! We are sitting ducks! I jumped as I felt a hand on my shoulder, "We're gonna be okay, Will," Danny told me.

"I don't like this. It needs to go faster! Anyone could see in here and know we don't belong!" I saw Mary's expression and immediately regretted saying anything.

"Yer right," Barret said, "I don't like this," he said looking around warily.

"We'll be fine," Danny said firmly, "There's no point in getting worked up about things. No matter what happens we'll find a way out. Being alert is one thing," he added looking at me, "But we need to stay calm and have a clear head."

He's right. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I keep forgetting my panic and anger management techniques. Relax, breathe evenly, everything will be okay. After a long time of waiting we finally reached the bottom, "See?" Danny smiled, "All okay."

"Yeah," I nodded.

We all rushed out of the elevator and into the lobby like the building was on fire. Thankfully there wasn't anyone around. We ran to the door, Barret stopping us, "I'll go on ahead." He charged up to the door flinging it open and then shutting it just as quickly when we heard bullets fly. "We're surrounded!" he cursed. "Gotta come up with a plan!"

I tried to think, but I honestly wasn't really sure what we could do. I barely listened to them talk as I tried to think of a way out of here. "Barret!" Tifa ran down the staircase, I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I thought about how she could trip.

"Tifa! Where's Cloud?"

"Follow me!" We rushed after her, "He's coming! Hurry!" We saw a truck in the lobby.

"Perfect!" I said.

Tifa jumped into the driver's seat and pulled down the sun visor, the keys landing in her lap, "Yo! How'd you know they'd be in there?" Barret asked.

"They probably thought no one would have the guts to steal from them," she smirked.

Barret let out a hearty laugh as we all piled in. We barely had enough time to get situated when Tifa hit the gas. I didn't even have time to brace for impact as we slammed right into a glass sign and started heading up to the second floor. I would've flown out of the truck if Barret hadn't grabbed my backpack. I muttered a thanks as we stopped. I braced myself; oh I knew what was coming next, and the thought of it was terrifying. Not more terrifying than staying in this building though. Cloud checked back to see if we were all ready before he crashed right through the window and flew down to the highway below. We all braced ourselves and soon we hit the air, the feeling of weightlessness made my stomach rise sickeningly, I barely had time to think before we slammed into the cement and started heading down the road. I breathed in deeply, and tried to unclench my hands from their death grip on the truck. I loosened them just a little but kept holding on. I heard engines coming closer and saw motorcycles in pursuit, I cursed, "Yo, Spikey! Incoming!" Barret yelled.

Cloud looked back and readied his sword, I could tell by his expression that he had either been expecting this or had heard them before we did. He slowed down, weaving through them as he and Barret defended us. The rest of us were forced to watch.

After what seemed like forever Tifa panicked, "We're running out of road here!" she slammed on the breaks, making everyone fly forward. We jumped out and readied ourselves, thankfully the motorcyclists stopped coming, but we could tell we weren't out of the woods yet.

Are you serious? This is just getting ridiculous! A tank-like robot rolled towards us. "I guess we can't just hope they'd let us go free huh?" Marylyn whimpered as she held her hands close to her chest.

I looked at her concerned. What did they do to her? "Everything'll be okay, Mary. We'll get outta here," I said smiling and putting a hand on her shoulder to reassure her, before stepping in front of her and drawing my blade.

I felt her grab my arm before I could draw it away, "Li-Will, please... Don't... Just let them fight that one... I don't want you to get hurt..."

I saw tears slip down her cheeks, "It'll be okay, I can fight."

"I'm scared..." She hugged me.

I hugged her with my free arm before looking at the battle that was just starting. I have to stay with her. God only knows what they did to her... "... Okay. But if they get any closer to us I'm going to protect you, okay?"

She nodded, "Okay..."

Honestly, I'm not really sure if I could fight that thing anyways. My blade's good but... If it was just a monster, yeah that'd be fine, but I'm not really sure how well it would be cutting through metal. And considering that I'm really going to need it later, I don't think it would be wise to take the risk... I did feel bad not helping though, but they seemed to be managing pretty well without me anyways, especially Cloud. His sword was cutting through that thing almost like it was butter. Daniel didn't seem to be faring as well though.

Daniel looked back at us to make sure we were okay. From the look on his face I could tell he was relieved that I was standing next to her and not fighting that thing. He made sure to keep himself between us and the tank at all times.

I blinked surprised when the thing stopped moving, I wasn't expecting this to be so quick. We waited a moment for more to show up. When we realized there was, at best, a lull we tried to plan our escape.

"Well, what do we do now?" Barret asked.

"Sephiroth is alive... I have to settle the score..."

I finally realized why Cloud was the way he was, those expressions I couldn't quite tell. I recognized them now; sadness but anger too... Sephiroth took away his family, didn't he..? I should have realized sooner, considering I probably look the same way. Maybe that's why I noticed it in the first place..? Barret broke me out of my thoughts, "Will that save the Planet?"

"... It seems so," Cloud said.

"Then I'm going!"

"I'll go, too. There are things I need to know."

"About the Ancients?" Cloud asked.

"... Many things," Aerith replied.

"It probably wouldn't be a good idea to go back home right now would it?" My eyes focused on Daniel. He looked so hurt and torn, vulnerable even.

"I'm sorry," Cloud said.

"... I kind of had a feeling when we started this..."

I didn't... I didn't even really think about it... I was so caught up with Mary being hurt, that I didn't even think, that I didn't even realize it! I was so caught up in just hoping we'd all stay alive! I didn't even really think about what would happen if we succeeded... And Danny... He left his family to protect us... He risked his life for us, to protect us... That's why Joan looked at us like that... It wasn't just that she was afraid we would die, she was afraid that even if we lived we'd be hurt and that she'd never see us again... Either way she would lose us for good... Danny sacrificed his whole life for us and here I've just been a jerk to him... I'm such an idiot... Tears stung my eyes. "I'm so sorry, Danny!" I jumped surprised. "I'm so sorry! It's all my fault!"

"Hey. No. Don't say that okay?" He walked over to us.

"But it is!" Mary cried.

"Hey, no it isn't. Come here," he pulled her into a hug, "Everything's gonna be okay. It's not your fault." I pet her hair. Poor thing. She's so traumatized. "It isn't your fault okay? You're my sister, of course I would come save you. I love you."

"I'm sorry..." He shushed her, "I-," she hiccuped, "I love you too..."

Cloud and Tifa walked over to us, "Don't worry. You can come with us. We'll take care of you and once it's safe for you to come back we'll take you home."

"Cloud," Tifa said.

He smiled reassuringly at all of us, "We're all going to have to rely on each other. Like a family of sorts. It's gonna be a long tough road ahead but I'm sure we can all make it as long as we stick together. Okay? You'll go home soon."

"... Okay..." she sniffled.

"Good, now, I'm sorry but we have to get out of here quickly okay?"

"Okay..."

We all searched for a way down and saw another wire. How fitting... We started climbing down slowly. And I thought the elevator was a long way. My arms were aching and swore, I was terrified that I could lose my grip and fall to my death at any moment. I tried to focus on staying calm which didn't seem to help. "You okay, Will?" Daniel asked.

"Tired and scared," I admitted.

"Let's all talk, that might take our mind off of this."

"You sure taking our mind off of it is actually a good idea?" I asked.

"Yeah, actually," I could hear the laughter in his voice. "So Mary, Will, What is the tallest building in the entire world?"

"Huh?" Mary asked.

"The library, because it has so many stories," He joked.


	6. Lost Souls

"We'll be coming up on Kalm soon," Cloud said. I took in a shaky breath and released it, "Will, Mary? You okay?" He asked softly.

"We used to live in Kalm," she said.

"Do you have any family there?" he asked.

Mary shook her head and held onto me, "Not anymore..." I said looking away.

"I'm sorry..."

The four of us walked in silence the rest of the way to Kalm. Honestly... I thought I would never return to Kalm... I didn't think I would be able to. Physically or emotionally... "At least we may be able to see our old neighbors..." Mary said quietly. That made me realize something... I don't really remember much about this place... I must've blocked it out...

We arrived at the city an hour or so later. It was getting dark. Even with the warm summer breeze I felt extremely chilled. I stopped and squeezed my eyes shut. I don't wanna go in there without mommy... I felt arms wrap around me, "It's okay," Danny was holding us both.

"I don't wanna go in there..." I heard myself say. I hadn't realized I was crying. "Please... I don't want to..."

"I understand."

"It's alright," I felt Cloud's hand on my shoulder. "I'll go inside to see if the others are there and then I'll come back out... We don't really have supplies to camp out here though and it's getting dark..." He added.

My lip trembled. Would it really kill me to go into the village... It feels like it will... Mom not being here to take care of me has been hard, but I'm afraid that if I go in there... Everything will become even more real... I didn't think I would get her back, but still... "I'll be right back," Cloud told us.

"What are you thinking?" Danny asked us softly.

"Mom and dad are gone..." Mary said, "But maybe, we could find our other family?" Mary suggested.

"Other family...?" I asked.

"Yea... Don't you remember?" I shook my head, "That's okay. I understand," she said, "Come on... Let's find them."

"Mary I-I can't..."

"It'll be okay. I promise."

"I'll be right here for both of you, it's okay."

I bit my lip but nodded. Mary held my hand and led us into town. I looked around trying not to think about the pain. The place was close to how I remembered it; green moss trying to swallow up the cobblestone streets, cottages with planter boxes overflowing with flowers, and the warm soft glow from windows spilling into the streets, among other things. I saw Cloud walk out of a nearby building. He gave us a comforting smile when he saw us, "You okay?"

"We're going to try to find our other family," Mary said.

He nodded, "I'll go with you. I got a room for all of us, but if you want to stay with your family that's okay too."

"Thank you."

We continued along, the light fading slowly, "Do you know where you're going?" I asked. I was completely lost. I don't remember Kalm being so big.

"Yeah..." She didn't sound as confident as I hoped she would. Then again she hasn't seen this place since she was five... I should be able to remember more than her...

"We lived on the edge of the village, closest to Midgar right?" I asked.

"Yeah!" She sounded a little more confident then. The hair on the back of my neck prickled, I scanned the street to my right. A lot of people were still out walking around and talking in the fading light, a few kids laughed and chased each other down the street, but behind it all in an alley, I saw a man staring at me. Our eyes locked for a moment, then he turned and walked away.

"Will?" I slowly took my eyes away from the retreating stranger and looked at Danny.

"Who was that?" Mary asked.

"... He was staring at me..."

"Who do you think it was?" Danny asked quickly.

"I dunno but he gave me the creeps," I said.

"Oh..." He spoke quieter as he got closer to me and Mary.

"Let's get going," Danny and Cloud said.

"Yeah," we agreed. We headed towards where we used to live, or at least that's where we hoped we were going. Honestly, I'm really glad Cloud is here. I have a feeling something really bad will happen. I stopped as the feelings grew worse, "We should go back to the inn," I said.

"What?" Mary asked.

"You're right," Danny said, "It's getting really dark."

"Oh..." Mary said looking around, "I guess we could always find them in the morning..."

We started heading back. To my dismay that anxious feeling kept getting stronger. I looked behind us and saw the man from before, I felt Daniel's arm wrap around me.

"Why is he following us?" Mary whispered.

"Maybe he's part of Shin-Ra," I thought aloud. Daniel cursed.

"Don't worry. Just act natural and stay alert," Cloud told us.

I was really worrying about who he was. Was he Shin-Ra? Maybe he used to live here and recognized us? Whatever his intentions were, I had the feeling we didn't want to find out. My mind drifted for a moment to our family. Mary said that our family would probably still live here. I stopped abruptly, "Will?" Danny asked.

"Our family won't be here anymore..."

"How do you know?" Mary asked.

I looked down, "Because they're our family Mary. He wanted to experiment on us, we have the same genes as our family," tears stung my eyes again. Just for a second I thought I might not be alone. That I might see my family again. Danny, Mary and the others are my family too but, what about my relatives? The people who knew me before. I could even have aunts, uncles, and cousins! But... They were probably taken or killed too. I wouldn't even know who they are.

Marylyn started crying again, "I miss my aunt Betsy! And my grandma! And-and your uncle and your aunt-!" she wailed.

What? My aunt and uncle? Little flashes happened in my mind as I began to remember them. My uncle would always smile at me and hold me... He was there for me... He was like a dad to me... How could I forget him? I placed my hand to my temple and closed my eyes tightly as if I could pull the memory out from behind the locked iron gate of my mind. We played tag.. And went on picnics.. And he would even carry me on his shoulders...

"Honey, everything's going to be okay," a man said in a soothing way. He looked like me... My dad's brother...

"But I want my daddy!" I wailed.

He held me close to him, "I know sweetie. I'm sorry," he kissed my hair and pet me.

"Why won't he come home?" I cried, "I want him! I need him!"

He shushed me and rocked me, "I know honey. I know..."

"He doesn't want me does he!? He hates me! It's all my fault!"

He put his hand on my shoulder to look at me then pet my face, "No, its not that honey," he stroked my hair with his other hand, "He doesn't hate you. He loves you!"

"Then why wouldn't he come back!"

"He-he really wants to honey. But he can't-."

I pushed him away, "Don't lie to me! You know the truth! He hates me and he's never coming back!" I ran out the door and into the backyard, I tripped and fell into the grass wailing. It felt like my heart was being ripped from my chest... My own father couldn't even stand to look at me, so he ran away and never came back... He abandoned us. He abandoned me...

This is why I keep feeling so alone... I realized. I still had that deep fear inside of me; what if everyone else abandoned me too...? I jumped when I felt someone wrap their arms around me. I hugged them back and opened my eyes, even before I did I could tell it was Danny. I breathed in deeply, his smell was so comforting. I realized I was acting too girly and pulled away, "Thanks..." I could feel heat rising in my cheeks as I looked away.

"You're welcome," I took a peek at him for a moment and realized he was smirking.

I looked away quickly, "Let's go."

"Yeah," Mary said. I saw Cloud nod as we walked in the direction of the inn. We got there quicker than I thought we would, I was glad. I feel exhausted. When we arrived I had the misfortune to realize there was only one bedroom and some of us had to sleep on the floor.

Only five beds for eight people. Tifa sat on the one closest to the stairwell, Aerith sat on the bed next to her, "We decided ta give the beds to the women," Barret said "Didn't think any of ya would disagree."

Cloud nodded, "That leaves one bed. Will? Do you want it?"

"What? Why?" I asked nervously.

"You've had a rough day kid," Barret said "You get the bed," He said dropping himself on the carpet with a thump.

"I don't really-," I started.

"Tough," Danny smirked as he laid down next to my bed, folding his arms behind his head.

I looked at Nanaki who was laying down next to Aerith's bed. They seemed pretty comfortable with each other, considering his act. That looked pretty convincing. Cloud was the last one, I looked at him. He looked lost in his own thoughts, like something painful was gnawing at him. "Yo," Barret said, "Let's hear yer story Cloud. You know, the one about Sephiroth and the crisis of the planet."

Cloud seemed to snap out of his thoughts slowly, "... Yeah." As he told his story I really realized why I connected with him so well... We've both had a really rough childhood. We're both orphans in a way, same with Mary.. Actually. Now that I think about it we're all orphans... Except Aerith has her adopted mother and I have... I buried my face in my pillow. Nothing...

... But what if I do have something...? What if they weren't really lying to me...? What if he really does love me...? I bit my lip to keep from crying but I could feel tears slip out of my eyes. Why did they have to take them from me? Why did they have to take away everything I love? I desperately needed to cry. To be myself again and just let all this pain go... I want my daddy! My soul seemed to cry out. I felt strange when I realized I just thought that. I do want him, I admitted. I want him to hold me and make things all better... But I can't... Somethings, even the things we want the most, we can't have... And we just have to accept that. I wiped my eyes. Did he really want me..? I wondered again. I'm scared to find out... I don't think I could handle it if he didn't love me, didn't want me... Why have I lived for so long...? It feels like my life ended a long time ago, all of this is just extra torment... For so long I wanted to die... To die along with her... At least then we'd be together... Right...?


	7. Longing

We'd left Kalm an hour ago, walking along the plains was difficult! It was just so hot! We had to rest often for water. Sometimes being lucky enough to have shade. Most times not. "I can't stand this sun," Tifa said, "This is way too much!"

"I agree," I said.

"At least Kalm had trees!" Mary said.

Nanaki made a grunting noise, I realized a moment later he was laughing, "I like you humans. You're not afraid to say what you think."

"In a good way though right?" Danny smiled. Nanaki laughed again, "In the slums it can get rather hot sometimes. Especially when they turn their machines on."

Barret growled, "Those damn leeches!" He started a flurry of curses, before shooting off some rounds into the air.

"Hey," Cloud warned, "We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves remember?"

"Sorry 'bout that," He huffed. "Just got so mad!"

"I'm sure this heats not helping that one bit," Tifa said.

"Look!" Mary said climbing to the top of a hill. We all ran up to see, "A ranch! Yay!" she jumped up and down for a moment before resting again and drinking water. I smirked and shook my head. I'm glad she's starting to act like her old self again. We all made our way down to the ranch, "Chocobos!" Mary jumped excitedly, "Remember Lia! Remember when we saw those chocobos in Kalm!?" She realized what she said and clamped her hands to her mouth.

"Lia?" Tifa asked.

"Um sorry I-,"

"It's an old nickname she gave me when I-," I stuttered.

"Dressed up like a girl!" Mary finished.

"Oh really?" Tifa asked with her hands on her hips.

"Yep," Mary said. She nodded her head way too over enthusiastically. I'm so screwed...

Tifa looked at the others, I followed her gaze and we realized no one else had heard. Or at least they showed no sign that they'd heard our conversation. I prayed they hadn't. Not that I don't like them but the less they know the better... Tifa pulled us aside. "You're a girl aren't you?" I pursed my lips, "It's okay. You can tell me. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

"That's silly Tifa! Will isn't-!" Mary started.

The look in her eyes made me realize I couldn't fool her even if I tried, I sighed, "It's okay, Mary." I made sure to look her dead in the eyes, "Don't tell anyone okay? Not Aerith, not Cloud, not Danny. No one. Okay?"

"I understand... But why? So Hojo can't find you?"

I swallowed hard and nodded, "Yeah."

Tifa startled me. She just hugged me really fast. "I really understand Lia... My Papa was killed by Shin-Ra too, remember...?"

I swallowed hard to keep the tears away, "Thank you," I choked out.

"You're welcome," she gave me a quick squeeze before releasing me from the hug.

"See? Its okay Lia," Mary smiled.

"Yeah, but... Now you'll be in danger-." I started.

She shrugged, "I'm already in danger. But don't worry. It's safe here. We'll all look out for each other, I'm sure. Everyone's seemed to have bonded so much already," she motioned behind me. I saw Cloud and Danny laughing. She grinned, "I hardly ever see Cloud that happy anymore."

"Danny too," Mary said. "I'm glad he's finally got some good guy friends to hang out with."

"Oh. Was I not good enough?" I joked.

She laughed, "You know what I mean. You're not exactly the best encyclopedia on everything manly."

My smile faded, "I'm still not sure yet..."

"That's okay," Tifa put an arm on my shoulder, "Its your choice."

"I've been a boy for over 10 years now..."

Her eyes widened, "Are you serious?" I nodded, "God... How can you handle it?"

"It's hard," I admitted, "But honestly I don't even know how to be a girl anymore..."

"That's-that's hard..." she said. "But it'll be okay. I'll teach you," she looked at Mary, "We'll teach you. Okay? I'll keep your promise. But I want you to promise me that you'll try to be yourself again."

I nodded, "I promise," I looked over to Danny. I really wanted to tell him. But what would he think...? What if he gets mad that I lied to him? What if he only likes "the guy" me? Or what if even if he did understand, that he won't like me like I like him?

He must have sensed me looking at him because he turned and grinned at me. He waved to me, "Come on Will!"

I walked over to him and we started walking to the ranch. "You worried about something?" Danny asked with a playful smile.

I blushed, "Just the usual I guess." I said as I brushed some of my hair behind my ear.

He looked more serious now, "You know, I think your dad really loves you." He looked into my eyes.

I bit my lip. This again... I was kinda hoping to forget. "... You don't even know him..."

"I know... But after everything that's been said. Him being imprisoned in Shin-Ra with Aerith and Ifalna. He wouldn't be able to come find you because he was trapped and when he escaped he probably didn't come back because he was trying to protect you. He thought that if he went home it would lead them straight to you. It would make sense since they're only after you," he studied me closely. Probably wondering if he was hurting me, "Why else would he stay away, Will? I'm sure he loves you. I know it! If my child went missing I would travel the ends of the earth until I found them and brought them back home safely."

I couldn't hold his gaze any longer and I looked away in silence, "... He's not you..." I said after a moment.

"You're right. He's not. But that doesn't change the facts," he said.

"Mom was so sure too," I said bitterly.

"Do you believe her? She wouldn't lie to you."

"I was a child," I said plainly, "If your child was hurting thinking that their parent didn't love them wouldn't you lie too?" My voice shook as I spoke.

"... I know the woman I would choose as my wife wouldn't do that," he said putting a hand on my shoulder.

I bit my lip, "This isn't a perfect world Danny... There are messed up parents out there that don't care about their kids."

"I trust that your mom wouldn't choose someone like that."

"Danny... Please stop..."

"I'm sorry... I just don't want you to give up on the only thread of hope you have..."

"... I already gave up a long time ago..." Tears were slipping down my cheeks now.

"I'm-I'm sorry, Will..."

"It's okay. I know you mean well," I think my voice slipped for moment because he looked surprised. A faint smile appeared on his face as he pulled me closer to him and put his forehead to mine. I squeaked very femininely and my heart started to beat rapidly. He's never held me like this before! Everything left my mind except him. I looked at his lips before quickly looking into his eyes, he was doing the same thing. Does he want to kiss me? His lips keep moving closer to mine! All I could think about was how much I wanted him to kiss me! As I closed my eyes, I opened my mouth to breathe more easily. Being so close to him sucked the air from my lungs... So nervous... I could feel his breath against my lips and his nose tickling mine. I could feel my head tingling as the giddiness rose higher. Is he really going to kiss me...?

"Danny! Will!" Cloud called over. We both jumped away from each other and watched Cloud run up. I stared at him frazzled and wondering what he saw, he showed no sign though, so I let out a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, "He said he'll give us a room for the night. And he knows a way for us to get across the marshes to follow Sephiroth."

"The marshes!" Danny asked, "But what about the Midgar Zolom?"

"That's the point," Cloud said, "Chocobos are faster than the Zoloms."

"And he's absolutely sure about that?" Danny looked tense.

"We'll be fine," Cloud said, "People do this all the time."

Danny relented and brought his hand to the back of his head, "Sorry, I just don't want Mary and Will to get hurt."

A blush rose to my face again. "I understand," Cloud smiled. "Lets get going. Its much cooler inside."

We headed inside to see Mary and Aerith laying down next to a fan with the others crowding around it and drinking ice water. I heard a clinking sound close by and looked down "Would you like some water?" A little girl asked us. We drank gratefully. "My name is Chole," she smiled shyly at us.

I looked over my glass to see Chole watching Danny closely, she blushed and held her hands to her cheeks with a giggle as Danny said hello to her. I smirked. I may have some competition...! I froze for a moment. What am I saying? He still thinks I'm a guy! My gut clenched. Was he really going to kiss me? My stomach turned, Is-is Danny gay? I shook my head, trying to release the pain that was building up inside. I closed my fists tightly, feeling my nails cut into my palm and tried to breathe in. If he found out I was a girl, and didn't like me... I tried to release the air as my chest squeezed and tears threatened my eyes. Such a crybaby lately Lianna. Come on now! I saw Cloud talking to the man and overheard where the guest bedroom was, I looked where he was pointing and followed. I needed to lay down.

I must've been exhausted because I woke up in the middle of the night. I saw someone sitting by the window, "Can't sleep?" I asked.

They looked over to me and I could hear Cloud's voice, "I'm a bit of an insomniac," he admitted.

"That sucks," I said.

He sighed, "It does sometimes. But hey I guess it comes in handy when someone needs to keep watch. Maybe its a gift," he let out a hmph of a laugh. The silence was lengthy. My eyelids started to flutter as I grew sleepier. I woke with a start when he asked, "You doing okay?"

"Y-yeah..." I said sadly.

"Is 'yeah' code for not really okay at all?"

"... I guess," I looked down at my hands tightening around my blankets.

"Thought so," Cloud paused, "I'm 'not really okay at all' either," he admitted.

"How can anyone be with Shin-Ra around?" I asked.

He was silent for a time before he said, "My dad... He died when I was just ten years old. Shin-Ra drafted him into the army for the Wutai War. They forced him to fight for them and he died a year or so later. They left him to die alone..." he was quiet for so long I thought he was finished, "My mom died six years later. As you heard... It feels like there's something missing..."

"Missing?" I asked, confused by the way he spoke.

"My memory- my life," he corrected "Doesn't quite feel right... Like there's someone or something missing to my story. Something that should be here that's not..."

"Your parents?" I suggested.

He shook his head, "No. Something else..."

"I miss my mom..."

"I miss my parents too... I wish- I wish things would have turned out differently... For all of us..."

"Me too..." I closed my mouth into a thin line, debating whether or not to say something. "Cloud?"

"Hmm?" he asked.

"Do you think I should give my father a chance...?" I couldn't believe I was asking him this.

"I would. If I could spend more time with my parents I would in a heartbeat."

"I don't know... What if he doesn't like me...? I don't think I could handle that..."

"He would be foolish not to. You're a good person Will. If he doesn't like you, he's not worth it. We'll all be here to support you, whether he does accept you or not," he paused. "It does feel like were family now doesn't it?" That surprised me... A family...? I thought for a moment. It does sort of feel that way. I sorta considered Danny's family as my own, but I've been rejecting them for a long time. Afraid to let them into my heart... I don't want to lose them too... "It's okay if you don't feel that way too."

"Its not that... I just-..." I'm too afraid to let them into my heart.

"You're afraid?" he asked.

I nodded. Then realizing he wouldn't be able to see me that well in the dark I said, "Yeah..."

"That's okay," he said, "I am too..."

"You are?" I asked surprised. He seems so calm and collected... When he's not in a panic attack.

"Yeah," He nodded, "Terrified. But you gotta push on. You can't let fear stop you... If you do," he paused, "You won't be able to do anything. You won't be able to live your life the way you want to. To be happy." I thought about what he said. To be happy..? I haven't been truly happy in... I don't even know how long... "You should get some more rest Will. Who knows how long we'll be traveling."

"... Yeah... You too," I said laying down and getting comfortable. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He replied. I really like Cloud... I thought. I feel so much safer when he's around. If I'd ever had a big brother, I would hope he would be like Cloud... Maybe I should try to find dad...? I bit my lips, tears stinging at my eyes. It's too late... I should've said something to Elmyra. I'm so stupid! The one chance I may have to finally meet my dad and I ruined it! I'm so stupid! I tried not to shake as tears slipped down my cheek. I may never meet him... Will I have to live with this mistake forever...?

I should've been there for them! I should have just taken them with me! He held his head in his hands, pulling at his hair. He lifted his eyes to the fire; crackling and raising its embers to the stars. Thinking of his family, he wiped a hand over his face before looking away from the fire. He pulled a small booklet out of his pocket, resting a hand on it as a tear dropped onto the cover. He wiped his eyes before opening it and reading the first page, absently stroking the picture attached. He heard a rustle nearby and slipped the book closed quietly. He was on full alert. He drew his sword readying himself. His eyes flickering across the landscape as he listened for further movement. "I thought you would be here." He tensed.

A man stepped through the bushes. "What are you doing here?" Gray growled.

"Isn't it obvious?" the man asked. "We were ordered to bring in the Ancients."

His chest tightened, "You leave her alone," he warned.

The man smirked, "You're lucky. Hojo's given up on you. If he hadn't, well. I'd have to take you in too," he paused a moment pacing back and forth as he spoke, "There's more to this than Aerith isn't there? Yes, I sense there's another reason why you're here. Hmm... Perhaps its that 'boy'? Your daughter I presume? She looks just like you."

His heart sped up, panic and rage setting in, clenching his muscles violently, "If you touch either one of them, I swear to God..." He growled.

He could see a sickening smile curl the man's lips. "Of course not... But you know; I do have orders to stop anyone from getting in my way," He stopped and turned, reaching behind him he brandished his EMR, snapping it straight. "I guess this actually makes you quite unlucky then. Seeing as how I have no orders to keep you alive..."


	8. Fear

I woke up groggily, Time to go I guess. I sighed rubbing my eyes blearily. I started when I realized Danny was in front of me. I looked around, panicking a little as I realized we were the last ones. He was smiling at me, "W-were you watching me sleep?"

He made a laughing smile, "Maybe... You look so adorable while you sleep!"

I could feel my heart beat in my chest. Danny's calling me adorable!? I couldn't really tell if he was teasing or flirting with me. I was kinda thinking that sounded more flirtatious, especially after what happened yesterday... My blush started to hurt as I remembered it. "Uh... Thanks...?" I said getting up and hiding my face. "Where is everybody?" I asked quickly.

I heard the cheeriness in his voice lower, "They're getting chocobos so we can cross the marsh."

He's acting strangely... As I examined him I realized he looked kinda... Upset..? "What's wrong?" I asked.

He lifted his gaze from the floor and forced a smile, before just dropping it and looking away, "I hate snakes..." He muttered.

I studied him. He looked a lot more sad than scared. I walked up to him out of reflex, "What happened?"

He glanced at me before looking away, "You're not the only one who lost their parents..." I breathed in quickly. This was the first time I've ever heard Danny talk about his parents. It was a touchy subject in his family. Silence stretched between us before he breathed in, covering his hand over his face. I walked up to him placing my hand on his shoulder and squeezing it. He moved his fingers to the bridge of his nose before breathing in slowly and moving it away to look at me. "I don't want to be here," he admitted. "I don't want to be anywhere close..." He looked like he needed a hug so I did, I felt his arms wrap around me. "Thanks Will."

"You're welcome."

"... I lost my mother here," I looked into his face seeing tears slip down. I squeezed him tighter. "She died here," he said abruptly, "Killed by those things... We were traveling. To visit relatives in Midgar. I haven't always lived in the slums. I used to live," he breathed in shakily, "A long ways away. On the other continent."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "After that happened to her my dad lost it. He just went crazy. Ended up killing himself... I don't think it was intentional though. Just pure recklessness. He loved us, I know he did, he wouldn't have left us like that if he had had a choice... In the end we ended up traveling to the slums, to stay with my grandma..."

"I'm so sorry," I squeezed him.

"Please Will. Don't waste this chance to meet him. I want you to be happy."

My voice broke, "I've already wasted it... You were right. I'm sorry...! I'm just so afraid he'll reject me!"

He hugged me, "You didn't waste it..." he paused, "I told her Will..."

My head snapped up, "What!?"

"I'm sorry. I want you to be happy. I know you told me not to... I'm sorry I betrayed your trust but," he bit his lip, "I'm sorry..."

"You had no right to do that," I told him.

"I know... I'm sorry..."

I tried to rein in my anger. I closed my lips tightly trying to steady my breathing. I'm so confused... I clenched my teeth, "Part of me wants to punch you in the gut but the other part wants to cry and thank you," I said grinding my teeth together.

I felt him sigh out in relief. "You might have a little bit of multiple personality disorder there," he joked.

"I think I'm leaning closer to the punching you side," I smirked.

"Point taken. I shall watch my words around you, oh fair dragon!"

"What?" I laughed.

"You remind me of a dragon; fiery personality and temper, but with a sweet caring side underneath."

"What dragons have you been around?" I smiled.

"Your kind," his smile brought a twinkle to his eyes and dimples to his cheeks.

We turned to the door opening, Mary stood there smirking at us, so we pulled away from each other. "So.. I just came in here to tell you two that we caught some adorable chocobos!" she grinned happily. "And soon we'll be off to the marshes!"

I saw the smile fade from his face before he asked, "Aren't you afraid?"

I looked at him concerned as Mary said, "Well, I guess a little bit... But honestly I'm more excited about the chocobos. I suppose when we get there I'll be a lot more scared. But right now I'm trying to go moment by moment."

"I'm not sure we should go through..."

"What else can we do?" Mary asked. "We'll only be safe if we stick with the others."

"I-I suppose you're right," he looked away.

"Are you okay, Danny?" He looked up with a forced smile, "I'll be fine. Lets get going," I didn't have time to say anything before he pushed past Mary and out the door. "Did I say something wrong?" she looked really upset, kinda like she was going to cry.

"No, it's not you," I said hugging her in reassurance.

"Then what?"

"I don't think he's ready yet..." I said concerned.

"Ready for what? Going through the Marshes? Why?"

I looked at her closely and pet her hair, "Don't worry. We all just need to support and encourage each other through our pain."

"Oh," she looked down sadly.

I pet her hair again, "Lets go, okay?" She nodded and we headed out. As we walked I prayed that Danny would be okay. He looked really hesitant when we saw him standing in front of the chocobos with the others. He was talking with Cloud when we met them. There were four chocobos; two riders per mount. I worried about Danny and Mary, now I was getting scared of these Zoloms.

Cloud turned to us, "Hey, we were thinking about Mary riding with me and Will riding with Danny. If that's okay?"

I nodded. I trusted Cloud with our lives. I think I even trusted his judgement more than mine or Danny's, especially right now. I also wanted to watch Danny, he was worrying me. "Is that okay, with you Mary?"

"Yeah," she said hugging my arm.

"It'll be okay," I assured her. We hugged before we mounted and the chocobos started running towards the marsh. Danny insisted I sit in front since I was smaller, but I could feel his protectiveness over me. I tried to remind myself that it wasn't because he liked me like that, it was because he lost his mom to these creatures. I grew more fearful as I saw the marsh approach, we were flying through the area so quickly. Marsh stretched before us, I don't think I'd be able to see let alone hear one of those things; this marsh was so thick with reeds, grass, and murky water. At some points we could see our friends but others they disappeared behind the wall of grass. I felt Danny grip me tighter, "It'll be okay Danny," I whispered to him.

"... Thanks," I could feel his breath on my neck and it made me shiver. Nope! Not happening! Not now! I'm not gonna go all giddy! I scowled at myself, trying desperately to focus on the danger at hand. We heard the reeds move to our left and I panicked. I spurred the chocobo on faster as we heard the thick reeds cracking and snapping like little tooth picks. We heard hissing before everything went silent. I could hear Danny cursing as he kept holding me tighter. My sanity flew away replaced by fear, I could tell the chocobo was feeling the same because if it were possible I'd say he was running even faster.

Even though I could barely think I managed speaking, "Danny. Everything's going to be okay" I squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"I don't want to lose you Will! I can't! I can't...!" his voice broke. I didn't realize he cared so much about me...

"I'm right here. Don't worry."

"I can't lose you," he repeated.

I opened my mouth to say something as we heard a neck prickling sound; like some kind of banshee wail accompanied by the creature's hiss. My heart jumped faster when I realized it was playing with us. Does that mean he could eat us at any time or that he just liked the thrill of the chase? I prayed it was the latter. I felt a drop of water on my neck. Is Danny crying? I looked behind me to see him, but my eyes widened as they fixed onto the creature. "Holy sh**!" It's like the size of a redwood! I can't even see where it's tail ends!

"Hey! Over here Puffy!" the snake riveted its eyes to somewhere to our right, "You heard me fatty! I bet you can't catch us!" I don't know if insanity was setting in or what but I had to smirk. I just love Mary.

The snake hissed and lunged in their direction, I heard Barret call out, "Yo snake! Bet you ain't fast enough to catch us!" I saw that their distractions seemed to be working when the marsh opened up to reveal everyone except Tifa and Aerith. I frantically searched for them and found them speeding out of the brush, apparently slower than the rest of us. "Hey-!" I shouted. Trying to get the snakes attention back on us before it reached Mary and Cloud.

"Will, stop!" Danny warned me.

"But their-," I stopped when I saw the snake coming back towards us. Apparently play time was over; It had decided who it wanted to eat first. It ignored the others' taunts as we all swept back into the reeds, losing sight of each other but not the snake. It drew closer to us, apparently it had had enough and wanted to just get this over with before we escaped. I swallowed hard, praying as it kept creeping even closer to us. "I'm-I'm sorry Danny."

"It's okay. I understand Will."

"I'm sorry about your mom and dad." I wondered if we would be able to make it. I was so scared. It reminded me of when mom died. I clutched his arm as I began to breathe rapidly.

"It'll be okay Will," he tucked his head on my shoulder hugging me. "It'll be okay," he whispered again. I realized I was shaking from fear and tried to regulate my breathing, I closed my eyes and kept praying.

The shrill screech sounded again as we felt the wind rush past; he was lunging at us! I screamed when it made contact.

My body went into shock as everything around me registered at once;

The cold water drenching us.

Danny crying out in either pain or fear.

The chocobo shrieking continuously.

And my own screams echoing in my ears as I felt us all rise. I lost all awareness when I finally felt the chocobo jolt unexpectedly.

It's all over... In a split second I saw my mom lying motionless on the floor as the flames licked and consumed our house... And all my hope with it... The last thing I saw was my dad holding onto my mom, her soft vibrant voice singing through my mind, He loves you so much honey! One day he's going to come home, pick you up in his arms, and hold you really tight and tell you that you're the most beautiful little girl in the whole entire world and that he loves you so so much! "Daddy!"


	9. Alone

He ground his teeth, slashing his sword into the Turks right arm.

He heard the fabric ripping as he pulled his sword back, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

The man cursed. Gray bellowed out as his body racked with electric shocks.

He turned behind him to attack the newcomer. A red-haired woman grinned as she lunged towards him.

He side stepped to his left dodging her attack, turning in time to parry Tseng's blow.

He saw another Turk enter the battle and stepped back. "We'll say hello to your daughter for you," Tseng smirked.

A flood of rage tightened his muscles, gripping down on his sword tighter he jumped towards Tseng.

He sliced open the man's shirt before swinging again.

His blow was blocked by the new brown haired man as the woman bowled into him.

She knocked him onto the ground, raising her arm she thrust her EMR down onto his chest until Gray grew still. She stood with a cruel smile, brandishing her weapon, "You certainly get things done Jewel," her partner smirked.

"Too bad," she smirked, "Hojo could have gotten five research specimens."

"I'm sure he can live with just four," he grinned.

"Jewel, Heroni time for the operation," Tseng told them.

"Yes sir," Heroni slung his EMR over his shoulder in a casual motion.

"Naturally! But first," She grinned at the cliff a few yards ahead of Gray. She pushed him to the edge, her eyes glowing fiercely as her gaze met the steep hillside covered in thick rocks and brush. Standing, she kicked him, smiling brightly as she watched his limp form roll down the cliff.

She turned to them. "You're cold..." Heroni eyed her warily.

"On with the job Heroni," she walked past him, grinning sadistically as she strolled into the bushes. Heroni gave one last look toward the cliff before slowly following her.

I woke slowly, my muscles tight with pain, everything hurt. Where am I? I thought. Am I alive..? I opened my eyes but my vision was filled with darkness.

"We could've died," I heard Danny say.

"That was close," Cloud agreed.

I went to sit up and winced, I froze before forcing myself through the pain. "Danny," I called out before wincing again.

I heard footsteps rush towards me, I cried out as he wrapped his arms around me. "I'm sorry," he said easing up, "I'm just so glad you're okay!"

"What happened? I huffed as he brought me closer into his chest.

"Our chocobo, he got us out of there. But he was in such a panic that he threw us off once we got out of the marsh... I was so scared!" he choked, When you stopped moving I-!" he didn't dare continue.

"I'm okay, Danny... Are you alright? And the chocobo?"

"Fine," he said, "He ran off. More scared than hurt I think..."

"Thank goodness," I sighed leaning against him. I was so exhausted and weak. "Where are we?"

"We're in the Mythril caves... We don't know where the others are..."

"What!?" I jumped.

"Mary and Cloud are fine but we haven't seen Tifa and the others."

I clutched onto his shirt as my panic set in once more. "They'll be okay," I heard Cloud's voice beside us. "They're all really strong."

"Are you sure..?" I gasped.

"Yeah."

"Where's Mary?" I asked.

"She's trying to comfort our chocobo," Cloud said.

"You just left her outside like that!?" I shouted as I pushed myself to get up. I clenched my teeth; my body screaming in agony. Danny held me close to his chest, "Let go!" I pushed him.

"She's fine Will. I'll go back outside and look after her," Cloud said before getting up and walking away.

I struggled, "What if she's not okay?"

"She is. Trust me, he was just out there," he loosened his hold. Part of me wanted to scream and get away to see if she was alright but the other part wanted to cry and snuggle into his chest. I hate how I act like this. I feel so bipolar. Because of the pain I stopped struggling and succumbed to the temptation to lean closer to him. I could feel him relax, "Trust me. I love her just as much as you do."

"... Okay. There's a flashlight in my bag," I remembered.

"I know, I've got it right here," he shook it in front of me making the light dance on the ceiling.

"Where's yours?"

"Didn't make it, got too soaked."

"Will, are you okay?" I heard Mary rush to me, throwing her arms around us, "I was so worried about you two!" She squeezed us, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over," I admitted.

"I'm sorry," she loosened her hug just a little, "Danny, how's your arm?"

"Danny?" I asked.

"I'm fine," he said.

"You nearly broke it!"

"I'm fine, Mary. I'm feeling better."

"You liar," I said, "You just wanna act tough!"

He sighed, "It hurts like hell..."

"We need to get going," Cloud said. "God only knows what lives in these caves."

I felt Danny hug me tighter, "Yeah... There are a lot of monsters here..."

Cloud gave me a potion before we headed deeper into the caves. I felt a little better honestly, so much so that I could actually walk with only a little bit of stiffness. I stretched as we walked, easing my joints and muscles. As far as near death experiences go that was pretty close... I looked at Danny, he had been much more scared than I was... I put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze, he looked back at me and in the dim light I could tell he was forcing a smile. He was thinking about his parents... I kept my hand on his shoulder taking brief moments to stroke his back. This place was like a maze. We found some materia in one of the dead ends though so its all good. We even found some things that the last travelers must've lost. A few times we ran into monsters but Cloud and Danny dealt with them quickly. I- well, I wasn't fighting because one; Danny wouldn't let me and two; I was still too stiff to move much. I had protested him fighting but surprisingly found out how well he could fight with only one arm...

Up ahead light reflected off of the walls in a gorgeous kaleidoscope of colors, I went over to a crystal, "Mythril," Danny said, "Isn't it beautiful? It looks liquid black until it touches the light of the sun." He shone the flashlight on it. Sure enough the faint shades died away to a cool liquid black.

"That's cool," I said.

"Mythril is rare," He said, "People pay a large price for this so we might wanna stock up a little."

"Good idea," Cloud said, "Who knows how long we'll be traveling."

"And the cost of a house," Mary said.

We made room in our packs for a large amount of mythril, "We probably have about 1 million gils worth," Danny said. "Small chunks about the size of a baseball can be worth about 500 gil alone."

"Nice," Cloud said.

"How do you know all this?" I asked.

"... Well my family's always been in the merchant business... Including my parents... They taught us a lot..." He swallowed and took in a deep breath, "Anyways, once we get to Junon I can show you guys where to get the best deals and buyers."

"Thanks," Cloud said.

"Yeah. Let's go," he said shakily before heading further into the cave, "The entrance is nearby."

We followed him and sure enough found the light at the end of the tunnel. The only way up to the plateau beneath the entrance seemed to be a tree. We saw Danny freeze and rushed towards him. A man in navy suit stood in front of him. Turk! I glared as I stepped in front of Mary. Danny and Cloud made sure to step in front of us. "Do you know who we are?"

"Hard not to after our last meeting," Danny said dryly.

"The Turks, right?"

"Well, if you know this won't take long. It's hard to explain what we do."

"Kidnapping, right?"

"To put it negatively you could say that. But that's not all there is to it anymore." He opened his mouth to explain before closing it, pondering a moment, opening it and then closing it again.

"It's okay Rude!" Our heads shot above to a woman standing on a cliff. A small smile spread across my lips when Elena explained Reno was too injured to greet us. I paused when she said her mission was to find Sephiroth. She didn't even mention Hojo or experimentation.

My gut tightened when I heard a new voice. This is the perfect place for an ambush I thought anxiously. It was Tseng, "You don't need to tell them our orders." Elena kept slipping up during the conversation. Even letting on that Sephiroth was headed to Junon. Through all this I was completely surprised with myself; not even making one cutting remark to that scumbag while Cloud was talking to him. I remained extremely tense, as he casually left, was this a feint? We left the cave a few minutes after they did to make sure, "Cloud!" Tifa ran up to him and hugged him, I smirked when he blushed. He definitely likes her, I thought, "We were so worried about you guys!" She looked at the three of us and hugged us.

The rest of the group came over, "Don't do that again, Spiky!" Barret slugged Cloud's arm, before turning to us and lowering his tone a bit, "Y'all had us worried back there!"

There was so much hugging! I am so not used to this! "Hey," Cloud said, "Did you guys collect any mythril? We're gonna need some funds on our journey and that stuff sells a lot."

"Course we did!" Barret grinned, "You think an old miner wouldn't recognize valuable ore?"

We smiled, "You used to be a miner?" Cloud asked.

"... Back in the day yea... I used to be a coal miner before they invented Mako..." He was silent for a long time. "Let's get movin! No good staying around here," he grumbled.

"A miner, a bodyguard, a barkeep, a flower girl from the slums, and a former research specimen, we all make quite a team," Aerith giggled. "What about you three?"

"A Merchant's son, and two employees," Danny smiled.

"How did you get all those flowers to grow?" Mary asked excitedly.

I smirked as Mary talked about flowers with Aerith, Those two could be sisters. I thought… I wonder if I would've had any siblings…? I shook my head. Banishing those thoughts from my mind as we continued on.

As we set up camp by a creek I grew more anxious. The Turks were around, they may not have attacked then but they could ambush us any moment. I walked over to Cloud and told him my fears, "I was thinking the same thing," he said. "Just keep an eye out and let us know if you spot anything." I nodded. "Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be okay," he said putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," he put his hand on my head and tussled up my hair a bit. "Relax a little, but stay alert."

I nodded once more before walking away. I bit my lip as I tried to decide what to do; I felt like I needed to be alone to think but at the same time that wasn't a very safe idea. I stopped when I heard the rush of the creek nearby, I chewed my lip some more. I could just go sit over there for a moment, its not too far away right? I walked to the edge of the creek tensely, sighing heavily as I sat down on a rock. "You okay?" I jumped startled. Danny sat there in the shadows, he sounded anxious.

I nodded, "I'm worried about an ambush," I told him quietly.

"Me too..."

"I talked to Cloud about it though. He says everything will be fine, we just have to stay alert."

"Right..." Am I hearing wrong? He sounds irritated.

"What's wrong?"

"Its nothing. Cause you know, Cloud knows everything right?" He stood up.

"What?" I am so confused! Why is he mad at Cloud?

"Ever since we met him. You've been all buddy-buddy with him."

I scowled at him trying to figure out what he was talking about, "No I haven't."

"Why won't you tell me Will? I've been here by your side for over five years and it feels like Cloud already knows more about you than I do."

"... Tell you what?" I hesitated.

He sighed and settled down a bit, "I'm sorry... Its just- all of this... You know...?"

"It's okay."

"I've been waiting for you to tell me... But to tell you the truth its driving me crazy..." He said averting his gaze and pulling on his shoulder.

"T-tell you what?" I asked, my heart pounding.

He walked over to me, sitting down on the rock I was on, "It's okay. I've known since I first saw you... You can trust me." I bit my lip and remained silent as I wrung my hands, "Grandma Joan knew too." My head shot up. Of course she did, I thought. That woman is very perceptive... I think I know what he's asking but I want to be sure... He chuckled, "She says she taught you how to act more like a boy..." So it is... "What's your real name...? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he added.

I hesitated a moment before I whispered, "Lianna..."

He looked at me surprised. I guess he wasn't expecting me to tell him. "Lianna." I blushed. Hearing him say my real name felt special... "I'm sorry for forcing you to tell me."

"It's okay," I blushed into my lap.

"No. It's not... I should've waited until you were ready."

I leaned against him... I was getting really tired, that's all, "I'm fine." I assured him. "I don't know if and when I would've been ready. I was too scared..."

I felt him relax and lean into me. "... I guess I just- a-after what's happened; almost losing you and then seeing you with Cloud... It made me upset..." My cheeks grew redder, what exactly is he saying? Is he trying to tell me he likes me? My heart sped up. He put his hand on mine and squeezed, "... I want you to be safe." I looked up to see him studying me, "I promise to keep you and Mary safe."

"Too bad," we both jumped up and turned around, Danny stepping in front of me protectively, "Breaking a promise so early," A redheaded woman stood there, her EMR tapping her shoulder, two men walking up behind her. "Oh excuse me, where are my manners; Jewel, Heroni, and Tseng of the Turks," she smiled at us her eyes alight with murder. She looks like a psychopath! I tightly wrapped my fingers into the back of Danny's shirt. I reached for my sword, shifting slightly behind him.

"Hello, Lianna," Tseng smiled, "Greetings from your father. He was on his way to see you but well," he shrugged, "Accidents happen."

My heart froze as I stared at him with horror... Dad...? He was-he was coming for me...? "What...?"

Jewel spun her weapon like a baton. "Terrible accident," she agreed, "Such a tragedy! He would not stop talking about how he was going to rescue his sweet little baby girl!" she mocked.

I shook like a leaf trying to force air through my squeezing lungs... My-my dad...? He's...? My mind shattered again forcing me to my knees. He's dead...? I can't... I can't do this...! "Daddy...?" I was a little girl again, crying for mommy and daddy while watching my home be destroyed...

"Oh, poor thing-!"

"Shut up!" Danny snapped, I vaguely realized he had caught my head with his hand in a comforting gesture. The last thing that registered at all, was Jewel moving closer and Danny called out for help, after that I completely lost it… My head feels warm...


	10. Reeling

I woke up holding my head, Cloud was above me, "You okay, Danny?"

"Where's Will...?"

He pulled me up, "Gone..."

"What!?" I shot up, nearly collapsing as the blood rushed to my head. Cloud steadied me. "What happened?" I asked once my head cleared. I looked around seeing the sun shine onto the campsite. Everyone's upset! Mary's crying! Oh God...! How long was I out!?

"We heard you calling out for help but by the time we got here you were knocked out and Will was gone."

"... It all happened so quickly..." I muttered.

"The Turks are like that," He agreed, "They're in and out usually in about 3-15 minutes."

"Where's Mary?"

"She's okay," he looked confused, "For some reason they only wanted Will..."

"What...? Why?"

"I don't know..."

"We have to go! Now!" I added.

"As soon as you get breakfast we're ready to head out." I couldn't live with myself if they hurt her…

As soon as I woke up, I whimpered. My head hurts! I opened my eyes slowly. The light beaming through the small crack made me feel like my head would explode. I clamped my mouth shut as the bile hit my teeth... Slowly and sickeningly forcing it back down. Where am I? Why is it so bright? I winced as I rolled my head away into the darkness. It took a long time but when my stomach finally settled I cautiously opened my eyes. My vision was blurred but it came into enough focus for me to make out figures directly in front of me. The ground bounced sending another wave of nausea to roll through me. Even though my heart was beating in my ears I could vaguely hear the sound of an engine...

The rumbling of the engines finally stopped. I popped my head out of the truck bed looking around frantically. Tears stung my eyes as I saw the wasteland before me. The huge ugly giant staring at me as it blocked out the sun. "Last stop kid."

"But -but I don't know where to go..." I whimpered.

"Not my problem. Out!"

"But-!"

"Look!" I flinched as he slammed the door and wobbled towards me, "We fixed up your head and I gave you a ride! We don't owe you anything! Now, Get! Lost!"

Tears ran down my face as I stood there crying, "I want my daddy...!"

He growled in frustration, I screeched as he grabbed me and threw me out of his truck, "Then go find him!"

My knees and hands scraped against the ground as I fell. I laid there crying as I heard his truck scatter rocks near my direction and move off into the distance. All the time I just laid there crying... "Daddy...!"

When I drifted back to reality my eyes finally focused enough to see Jewel. My heart sped; I was in a Shin-Ra military vehicle surrounded by the Turks. "Well. Well. Look who's awake?" I winced; her voice seemed to echo around inside my skull.

I stared at her for a moment as my eyes continued to focus. "We've been looking for you for a very long time." Tseng said stepping in front of my view. "A tiny little girl. Terrified and alone. Where did you go?"

"None of your business," I cursed at him. "Take me back!" I breathed in heavily trying to stop the spinning.

"You're not in any position to-."

"I said let. Me. Go!" I grit my teeth to steady myself. I glared at him disgusted, "You self-entitled woman abusing b*******!"

He pursed his lips, glaring at me, "Spirited... You take after your parents. It's sad that they're only able to see you from the Lifestream."

My eyes widened as he reminded me, I started screaming and cursing at him. Screaming about how they took everything from me; my mom, my dad, my life... I kept wailing until Jewel pushed him out of the way, grabbed my collar and pulled until my face was inches from hers, "Such a little brat!" she spat, her face twisting into a horrible smile, "I enjoyed killing your little daddy," she mocked, "Oh, he kept going on and on about how he was going to protect his sweet little girl from us. It was so~ heartbreaking! So much blood spilled from his body before the electricity was just too much that it just stopped his heart! He was probably thinking about you until the very end! Even as I pushed his body over the cliff; flesh ripping, blood pouring out, his bones breaking and snapping on every single rock and branch before he reached the bottom!" she breathed in deeply, "I loved every moment! And now I have his sweet daughter to keep me company until I take her to Hojo-," she paused, "Oh wait! Didn't Hojo make a house call to you before? Oh yes! I remember now! He killed your mommy on the floor of your bedwoom," she pretended to cry, "Oh so sad! Now he'll finally get to experiment on the little girl he killed so many others to retrieve!" I blacked out while she was talking, fading into those memories... I didn't notice as tears came to my eyes; I was too lost in my flashback.

First the image of my mom popped into my mind she looked so happy... Next thing I knew she was on the floor pleading with the men who had captured her. I heard the gunshot, I saw and smelled the flames, I could even feel the pain as I tripped, fell, and kept running... The image of my dad was the last thing I saw before my mind just couldn't cope anymore. I could see him looking for me... I could see him with my mom... I saw his death...

I've been out of mind with worry ever since they took her from me... I didn't know what to do; all I could do was walk around in a daze as I desperately prayed for her. "She has to be safe... Please be safe..." I muttered.

I was barely aware that Mary was freaking out and crying, I couldn't do anything for her at that moment; I was too lost myself... Thankfully Aerith and Tifa were there to comfort her...

It grew very quiet causing me to notice too late that I was missing something. Something's wrong, very wrong! I was suddenly knocked to the ground, a girl with black hair was on top of me rummaging through my pockets, "Hm, you're pretty cute I guess. Not my type," she shrugged, "But cute."

"Get off me!" I pushed her off and drew my sword.

She did a backwards flip, brandishing her weapon as she did, "You wanna fight eh?" She grinned, "Well, how could I refuse?" We fought for a time just the two of us. I was wondering where the others were. Did I wander off on my own? I shouted out for Cloud. "No fair! That's cheating!"

"How is stealing playing fair!?"

She grinned, "Too true, too true! Well! I'll just have to beat you before they get here then!"

"Fat chance!"

"Oh! Do I sense a challenge? I accept!" she lunged at me but I sidestepped out of the way just in time, I realized too late that she was feinting.

She got me in my weak shoulder! I cried out as the searing pain bit into my flesh.

I grit my teeth and used her opening to get her under the ribs. She winced as she felt her side, she pulled her hand away to reveal blood. "Nice job. You're not too bad with a blade!"

"You too," I said as we continued. She threw her blade, slicing it through the air and my skin.

I used my sword to bat it out of the way before it flew back. I missed but hey, I have a messed up shoulder... "Nice try, squishy!"

"Squishy?" I asked.

She grinned maniacally before throwing something at me... Everything was getting… Bigger...? Why...? I looked at my hands and squirmed. I'm a frog! What!? Why did she do this to me!? I started hopping away as she walked closer to me, I glared as she brought me up to her face, "Aww! Aren't you an adorable little froggy woggy!" Is she really making cutsie faces at me!? "Aww! You're so cute! I bet the little girl froggy's would just adore you!" she grinned maniacally at me. WHAT!? I tried to get away from her, "Uh-uh. No Mr. Froggy. You might get hurt!"

I heard rustling in the bushes and turned to see Cloud and the others run out, "Danny!" Cloud called. I tried to get to him but she held me back and shoved me in a pocket before zipping it up. This is very demeaning! What the heck is this girl's problem!? "Who are you? Where's Danny?"

"Hmm... I dunno..." She sounded so gleefully mischievous I wanted to puke. I could hear Cloud's sword move across something, "Oh wait! Maybe I do know! But you're not going to find out unless... I challenge you to a fight! You win and you get Mr. Squishy back! I win... Well. You'll see..."

I face-palmed when she said "Mr. Squishy." I heard someone else say it as well, they sounded just as confused as I did. "What did you do with him?" Cloud asked.

"You'll find out..." she said vaguely.

I guess a fight's not that much too Cloud because I started jostling around in her pocket. You gotta be kidding me! Lianna's been kidnapped! Anything could be happening to her right now! I have to get to her! I tried to open the zipper but it was extremely heavy and my -hands- kept slipping. I growled in frustration as I desperately tried to escape. I'm coming Lianna!

I felt the girl landing on the ground with a thump. "Man I can't believe I lost..." she jumped up suddenly making me feel queasy, "Come on! One more time!"

"Not interested."

"Heh! You scared?"

"Petrified..."

"Well of course you are with my skills and all. Well here you go, a deals a deal." I finally saw the light of day. She pulled me out and waved me a little, "Here he is!" She set me on the ground before pouring a Maiden's kiss on me. I was so thankful she didn't try to do it herself. Everything got smaller again, I looked at my hands, sighing in relief when they looked normal again.

I glared at her and grabbed her by the collar bringing her face inches from mine, "You try that again and I'll show you what it feels like to be shoved in a small pocket with cookie crumbs and lint!"

She had the gall to laugh! "Aw, but it was funny!" I gave her a warning glare. "Point taken. Well see you guys later!" She ripped out of my hands and ran off a few feet before turning, "I'm really gonna leave! REALLY!"

Good riddance! "Wait a minute!"

"Oh I see. You saw how skilled I am and want to keep me around eh?" Cloud nodded, "Well how can I refuse?" Her feigned humbleness was irritating.

"Let's just go!" I said.

We all started walking towards Junon again with her chasing after us, "Hey wait! My name's Yuffie! Nice to meetcha!"

I talked to Cloud about making friends with a thief, he looked back at her chattering excitedly with the girls and said we'd watch her... If she does anything to Lianna and Mary she'll regret it! I growled.


	11. Whispers and Illusions?

The man walked through dull metal corridors lined with infantryman and scientists. Flipping the pages of a chart as he walked, he peeked above the rim of his glasses. A woman smiled at him saying hello, nodding in reply he turned the corner. He stopped at a door which read 'Authorized Personnel Only', a keypad hung on the wall with an I.D. Card slot attached. He put in the code and swiped his card allowing the door to slide open. He looked around before he stepped through; another door stood in front of him. He hurried over to it and tried the pressure release, the door remaining closed. He muttered a curse under his breath before turning around and going through another doorway nearby. On the left of the wall was a window with a control panel below it; countless buttons, levers and screens lined the place. Leaning over he typed in a few codes, he heard gears shift as the plate-covering on the window rolled up. He sucked in a breath when he saw what was on the other side, his stomach clenched, "L-Lianna."

Nausea boiled in his stomach, his chest and throat tightening hard as he looked out onto her pale face. He shook as he typed in more codes, nearly missing a key before he heard the door unlock. In a moment he was there squeezing his fists anxiously as the door took its time. Only a minute gap was available but he pushed himself through, rushing to the girl's side, "I'm here baby girl, daddy's here," His gaze drifted to her temple, gauze and tape wound its way around her hair. His stomach curled tighter, rage and dread boiling through his veins. As delicately as he could he unhooked her from the machines, withdrawing the IVs and other instruments strewn across her. With each needle his hands shook more noticeably. He glared at the last one; it was sucking the blood from her veins and storing it in a cold metal box, the machine hissing with each beat. The machine had a percentage on the side of how much blood it had accumulated, he clenched his teeth tightly, "You've already taken too much!" he roared. He grabbed the machine, pulling it closer to him as he tried to reverse the process. He let out a breath of relief when the percentage went down. He pet her hair, "It's okay honey. I'm here." He smiled softly at her as he pet her face, "You look so much like your mother," he smiled, "But a bit more like me…"

Leaving one hand on her face he reached into his pockets and started texting, Giving her a blood transfusion, buy me some time. Stowing it back into his pocket he waited.

He had been pacing off and on for at least an hour. He walked over to the machine again; not complete, but enough for her to be safe. "I'm sorry sweetie, we have to go now." He tenderly withdrew the needle, pressed down a cotton ball, and applied the bandage.

His gaze softened as his eyes landed on her face, he pet her hair gently and kissed her forehead before picking her up in his arms and carrying her to safety. His heart bubbled with emotion, like he was about to break open, "Not right now," he whispered to himself.

He ducked through the hallways dodging his former 'friends' left and right. I can't let them hurt her again… He ducked into the room labeled 'Medical Supplies' and shut the door swiftly, setting her against a crate before locking the door. He stifled tears as he pet her face, before kissing her forehead once more and rummaging through the medical supplies. He grabbed the boxes, read their labels and pushed them back on the shelf. Finally he picked up a bottle and eyed it closely, twisting open the lid and examining the contents before twisting it back on and shoving it in his pocket. He did this with a few other items when he heard Lianna stirring.

He knelt down beside her, "Hey, everything's going to be okay honey. I'm here now, daddy's here."

Opening my eyes was a difficult chore; everything hurt… All I wanted to do was go back to sleep. I was actually thinking about it too before recent memories slammed into my mind. The Turks! Daddy… I struggled against my body to wake up! To move! Something! I felt something touch my face and jumped. It was like my ears weren't fully online yet; I knew someone was talking but for the life of me I just couldn't understand it! I opened my eyes, or at least, I think I did. They feel open don't they? Why can't I see anything?

I felt somebody pull me close to them, At least something's working right now, I thought. It was terrifying not being able to control anything though! But the question was who was doing it!? Is it some creep!? Did-did Danny save me? I would've blushed if my body worked, maybe I did, I don't know.

My eyes are open! I realized as the dark blurs started to take shape. My ears were getting better too, "It's okay… Shh… It'll be okay…" I- don't know that voice do I? Who's holding me? "Shh… It's okay, honey. I'm here, daddy's here…" … I'm hallucinating… My heart was breaking, Daddy… Daddy's gone… I could feel sobs force their way out of me, "No, no. Shh… It's okay honey… It's okay… It's okay… I'm here…"

"Daddy…" I croaked… I felt like my mind was snapping, "Daddy…!" I wailed. I could feel him wrap his arms around me tighter and rock me. I could feel him pet my hair and kiss it… All of this made me break even more… "Daddy! I want my daddy!"

"I'm here! I'm right here baby girl! I'm finally here!" Their body shook and I could feel dampness on my hair, "I'm here Lianna…! I'm here now and I won't let anyone hurt you anymore!"

"Daddy…! I want my daddy!"

"I'm right here, Lianna. I'm right here." They lifted up my face to theirs and I finally saw who was holding me, "It's me. I'm here," I felt his thumb stroke my cheek as he held my face, "I'm here sweetie."

I was in shock. Literally. My body had been going though cycles of this, "You're dead!" I wailed hysterically.

"No! No, I'm fine honey! I'm fine!"

"She killed you…! I'm alone! Now I'll always be alone!"

He kissed my forehead, "Shh… It's okay. I'm fine. I'm alive. I'm here. I came here to get you sweetie!" his voice was breaking further, "I came all this way. I've been looking for you. Ever since you were just a little girl- ever since you were in your mommy's tummy - I wanted to hold you... I'm so sorry Lianna...! I'm so sorry!" He kissed me again, "It's all my fault. I'm so sorry!"

I didn't know what to do or think except cry. Cry and hold on throughout the tidal waves of emotions. I felt like I was drowning, drowning in sadness, fear, and shock. I was that little girl again; alone in a field crying against a rock and wishing beyond everything that it was my dad… That he was gonna hold me and protect me from everyone who tried to hurt me…

He rocked her and shushed her, finally realizing she had fallen asleep. Even then he still whispered to her, "You're gonna be okay honey. I'm here." His stomach tightened into a knot when he realized how long they'd stayed in enemy territory. He cursed before shifting to pick her up, stopping when he felt his shirt tighten; her white knuckled hands were clenched into the fabric trembling periodically. He whispered more comforting words before checking the hall. He sighed in relief as he stepped out, closing the door softly with his foot. The stairwell was three hallways to his right, he could make it... He hurried down the hallway, stopping at the intersection he paused to look around the corner before continuing on. He heard voices and froze, looking around frantically he spied a door; Lab 3. He peeked in before entering. Slumping against the wall he sighed in relief. He looked out before taking off down the hallway again. Turning another corner he froze and backed up slowly. "Did you really think that you could just waltz right in here and take my precious specimen?" The man examined him closer, "Oh! Its you! Why this is even better now isn't? Not only one specimen now I get two!" He laughed cruelly making Gray's body swirl with a mixture of a cold bone chilling fear and muscle clenching hatred.

"I won't let you hurt her anymore."

He laughed more, "Its so comical! To think you actually believe you have a choice! No. You're both my specimens and specimens don't have the right to choose. Take them to the cells," he ordered a few SOLDIERs standing by, "Make sure its comfy," he smiled at Gray before turning his gaze to the SOLDIERs, humor leaving his voice as he said, "And with one of the newer locks, he knows how to break out of the others."

Gray held her tightly to his chest as they stepped towards him. He quickly scanned the area running through his options. Fighting would only put Lianna in danger. He turned to run but froze when he saw others behind him. He cursed, Surrounded! "Come quietly and we won't hurt the girl," a man said.

His heart sped up as the men came closer grabbing them, he only struggled a moment before the man stole Lianna from his arms and the others grabbed him, "Put her down!" Gray shouted.

The man repeated himself before walking in the direction of the cells. Gray panicked but tried to do as he was told.

His panic eased slightly when they shoved them both in the same cell. He held her close, "Daddy's here. I'm not gonna let them hurt you sweetie. I'll get us out of here I promise," he whispered into her hair.

When I woke again, I found him holding me. He's… He's still here… This is real isn't it…? "You're-you're here… You're alive…"

"I am," he smiled at me. "… I've been looking for you for so long," he paused, "My little girl…" his voice broke. "I love you so much!" he hugged me tightly, "Finally! I finally get to hold you! My sweet little girl!" He… He loves me…? My dad… Sobs bubbled up from inside again, I couldn't control them. I just kept crying and crying, spilling out so many years of pain and torture. He loves me…! My daddy loves me…! He's finally here…! I finally found him…! He loves me! I just couldn't get over that. My dad was finally holding me and telling me how much he loved me! My body just couldn't take all the stress I've been under lately and made me pass out again.

I opened my eyes and still felt him holding me… It was so surreal… Is this really happening…? This is what I've wanted for so long… And yet… I didn't know how to take it. I didn't know how to deal with all of these emotions dwelling inside me… Emotions that had been sealed tightly away in my heart finally just spilled free. The floodgates poured open, leaving me a confused mess. Everything was coming back to me. Growing up without him… How I was scared he would never love me… Mom dying… Being alone… So completely alone… And all of those days in the slums I had been contemplating ending my life… Everything came back… "I'm so sorry honey! I'm so sorry I wasn't there!" he held me tighter and kissed me, "I've always loved you honey! I've always wanted to hold you and be there for you! I love you so much! I could never hate you!" Until he said all those things I hadn't realized that I'd actually been saying them out loud. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry…! My poor baby…! I'm so sorry…!"

I said them… All of those little insecurities and fears, they all just tumbled out. Through it all he held me close to him and told me how much he loved me… I forgot what this was like… To have a parent there to care for you… To hold me when I cried… "I miss mom…!"

"I do too… God, I miss her…" He squeezed me, "I'm sorry I was late… If I had gotten there sooner…" he choked.

I wasn't really sure what to say to that… For so long I blamed him for her dying, in a way I still did, but… I know Shin-Ra well enough now to realize that everything is their fault… "… I love you…" I didn't realize I was going to say that until I did.

"I love you too sweetheart."

We talked for a little bit when we heard the door slam open. We both stood up immediately to find Jewel glaring at us, "I killed you…" she said coldly. Stalking over to us like we were her prey; backing us into the wall, Dad pushed me behind him as soon as he could. "How did you survive?" she demanded, pushing us against the wall. "How!" Dad remained silent, "No one survives a battle against me! And I aim to keep it that way," I heard her weapon click to its full length.

"Please," he begged, "Not in front of my daughter."

"No! Please!" I screeched. I just met him! I can't lose him again!

Her lips curled into a grin, "This is perfect isn't it? She gets to watch you die this time," her smile grew wider, "I think I'm actually quite glad you survived now."

"Please!" he begged, "I'm all she has…"

"Oh, I know. I was there when we killed her precious mommy! Its so sad isn't it? Her being thrown on the floor, beaten, killed, and to top it all of the house was burnt down! All because of you and your precious babies! I'm just so ashamed to say that I wasn't the one who killed her! It eats me up everyday…"

I could feel my dad shaking uncontrollably… Or maybe that was me…? "You…" he started.

"Me, what? Am I supposed to be scared?" she asked. "Scared that daddy's gonna beat me up for destroying his poor little family? Suck it up! Life isn't sunshine and rainbows… I'm sure we've proven that to you at least once already!"

I was waiting for my dad to say something but he didn't. I could tell he was holding back his anger. If I was in my right state of mind I probably would've told her off! He has a lot more self control than I do… I could tell why though; he was trying to protect me... If he moved or let his guard down an inch she could hurt me… I'm so glad to have him here but… I don't recognize myself anymore… Who am I? I felt her grab his shirt and try to pull him away from me but he wouldn't budge. He suddenly cried out, "Dad!?"

He bent over a little, "I'm okay…"

"Oh are you now?" He cried out again, and again until he was crouched on the floor, still trying to keep me behind him.

"Please stop!" I shouted.

"Aww! You can't take it anymore can you? How sad!" I gasped as electricity flooded through me, God help me…! I couldn't even think as my body shook with all the pain, I'm pretty sure I was screaming though. It felt like every cell in my body was being stabbed through with a white hot searing pain! Finally, after what seemed like forever it eased, I realized I had blacked out when I found myself slumped on my dad's back. Through his worried voice, I think I heard people pulling her out of the room.

Before I knew it my face was in my dad's hands, "Are you okay honey? Lianna! Please answer me!"

"Dad…" I croaked.

"Oh thank god," he held me tight. "Thank you so much…!"

"… What happened…?"

"They heard us screaming and pulled her out of the room… She was hurting you so much!" His voice broke, "I thought- when you stopped screaming-," he was crying again.

"… What about you?"

"I'm okay..."

"… I don't know how much more my body can take…" I was genuinely scared, over the past few days my body's been through so much that I kept thinking; One more thing and I'm going to die…!

"I know… I know…"

"… I'm tired…"

"Rest a little okay?"

"… Okay…"

A while later the door opened again making Gray jump. "Gray, time to go." He sighed in relief before stooping down and picking his daughter up in his arms. "We don't have much time," the newcomer stood tall in his black suit, his brown hair floating around his face.

"Thank you," Gray told him.

He nodded, "Here's your stuff. Take the east stairwell down to the back entrance and wait for me there."

Gray nodded, "What's this?"

"A way for us to communicate. The other one's compromised. And here," he reached into his back pocket and pulled something out, "You might need these." Gray recognized them immediately as explosives.

Gray started to head down the way the man told him, warily checking each corner and passing each door like it could explode any moment. He tried the handle to the east stairwell; locked again. He heard someone coming and ducked into a door nearby; a small utility closet. He looked around quickly, scanning the room for something, anything that could help them. A ventilation duct sat in the corner, he considered prying it open as the door opened and he froze.

"Gray?"

"B-Bethany?"

"What are you doing in here? I haven't seen you in like 15 or 16 years!" she crossed her arms, "You never showed up for my graduation party! I finally get a real position in Shin-Ra and you didn't even show up!"

"I'm sorry but now's not the time! I have to get out of here."

"Out?" she scowled at him confused, her gaze drifting to Lianna, "Who's that?"

"My daughter. Please Bethany. Do you have the key to the east stairwell?"

"What-what happened to her…?"

"Please," he looked her in the eyes pleading with her, "I have to get her out of here!"

Her eyes widened and she nodded, "Y-yeah, I just have to go back to my desk…" she grabbed the door handle shakily.

He grabbed her arm, "If you tell anyone about us they will kill us. She's only sixteen and I've finally found her after ten years. Please, please don't tell anyone," She gulped and nodded, "Please believe me."

"Y-you're my mentor… Of course I do…" With that she left. He wiped his hands over his face, She's gonna rat us out…! He wouldn't blame her though if she did. He knew all to well what happened to Shin-Ra employees and their families. He snuck a peek outside the door, he shut it and grabbed his communicator. Before he did he saw a gleam on the underside of a shelf, he pulled it off, smiling as he held up a key, "Thank you so much!" he said in relief. He unlocked the stairwell and carried his daughter down when he got a message on his device, "Sorry, I forgot to tell you where I put the key. Its -."

"Don't worry, I found it. But someone caught me in there, an old friend…"

"… You think they can keep a secret?"

"Not on your life…" He heard the man curse. "No one knows you're involved."

He sighed, "I know. Thank you. I just don't want your opportunity jeopardized. You only get so many escape attempts…"

They finished their conversation as Gray hit the bottom. He ducked out the door and to his surprise no one was there, Well what do you know? She didn't tell the first person she saw… He sighed as old memories came back. He'd had so many friends but now that all of this has happened, he realized which ones were the true friends. He saw the man waiting for him at the back entrance. "Almost out," he said opening the door, "You're lucky you're not trying to escape tomorrow. There's gonna be more military on the base for the Presidential Parade," he rolled his eyes.

"He's already celebrating is he? You'd think he'd at least mourn his father a little."

"Yeah, but with Sephiroth on the move things need to be done quickly…"

"Sephiroth?" Gray stopped. "Didn't he…?"

He nodded, "First him then Hojo."

"But I thought he died?"

"He did, now he's back."

"H—how?"

"Jenova," the man said, "That's my best guess…"

"Geez…" he said clutching Lianna tighter. "I don't want him near her…"

"Then you won't like the news that he's coming here."

"What!?"

"He may be following the president, but who knows Hojo may be right about the Jenova Reunion theory, I wouldn't doubt it."

"I wish Gast had never dug it up," Gray shivered.

"Don't we all," the man agreed. They continued down the streets until they came to a blue door with gray trim.

"Finally," Gray sighed as he set Lianna down on his bed.

"Here," He moved the blankets away for Gray to tuck her in. "… Reminds me of my youngest daughter…"

"You mentioned her before… Didn't you say that she was missing as well?"

He nodded, "Her and eight other children."

"What happened?"

"Two were kidnapped by Hojo, one disappeared the day after, and another right before the fire, the rest were unaccounted for during and after the chaos."

"God…" Gray pet Lianna's hair, "I'll help you in any way that I can. It's the least I can do for helping me find her."

He nodded, "Thank you," he allowed himself a small smile, "I did find one. Or rather she did," he nodded at Lianna.

"Lianna?"

"They all escaped Shin-Ra together... Your daughter rescued Aerith before you could," he smiled.

"They're both my daughters," Gray smiled before shaking his head and smirking, "You know, I don't know if I should be proud of her or horrified about how reckless that was."

The man laughed, "I'd say a bit of both. It comes with the job description of being a dad."

Gray laughed before growing sober again, "Do you have any leads?"

He remained silent for a moment, "… None…"

"What about your wife and the other children's parents? Do they have any idea?"

"… No. They're waiting for me to find them," he breathed in, "This is something I decided on my own… I promised my brother that I'd look after his wife and kids when he died but… I wasn't able to do much… I have to fulfill that promise…"

Gray nodded, "If you need any help, I'm here… If you give me their names and information I-."

He shook his head, "Thank you, but you wouldn't be able to find them. They're not here anymore…" he walked towards the window and looked out. "… They're not in the Lifestream… I know that… I can feel it as a Cetra. They're not in this world anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Cetra can travel to other planets to cultivate them with life. Those children though. They were too young to realize what they were doing…"

"So they're on another planet…?"

He nodded, "Probably all on different ones too, you never know."

"Then why are you still here?"

"I still needed to help you," he smiled at him, sadness showing in his eyes, his smile fading almost as quickly as it appeared, "But also. I'm getting mixed messages. Especially since I don't know what to do with the child that's here… They're an orphan now, they'll be safer with everyone yes, but I don't think they would come with me. They don't even remember me and would only see me as an enemy," his hands swept over his clothes. "If you saw a Turk wouldn't you run too?"

Gray nodded, "Maybe Lianna can help?"

He shook his head, "She has no reason to trust me either."

"You saved our lives."

"She's been traumatized too much by Shin-Ra to trust anyone," he paused, "I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this… I signed up to be a Turk so I could save the people they took, but I feel like I may have done more harm than good."

"You didn't do any harm," Gray said, "Stop being so hard on yourself."

The man looked down, "I've been searching and having to cover everyone's tracks so much that I've barely been there for my family… They're a lot older now, my kids, about Lianna's age… God when's the last time I've seen them…?" He wiped his eyes.

"Looks like that's what you have to do first. Take some time off and visit them. I'm sure everyone wants to see you."

He nodded, "Thanks… I will," he started to leave but turned, "If you need anything-."

Gray smirked, "I'll call you… Thanks." He nodded and continued on.

Someone's talking… A man…? Daddy…? I opened my eyes in time to see a man leave. Dad got up and started walking to another room. Where am I…? "Dad…?"

He turned quickly and rushed into the room sitting down on the bed beside me. "You okay?" he asked.

I nodded, "Who was that?"

"My friend Dorian. He helped us escape from Shin-Ra."

"Dorian…?" I'm still so tired.

"He helped me find you," he pet my hair making me blush.

"He's a good friend," was all I could think to say.

"One of my closest friends," he smiled at me. His smile soon turned into a smirk, "Now, I heard about how you snuck up into the Shin-Ra building knowing full well the danger you were in."

"Wha-?" This is starting out like how mom used to scold me…

"I'm proud of you for rescuing your friend, but at the same time I want you to promise me you won't do anything reckless again."

"What? But-, what!?" Was he seriously-? "Uh no! Mary's my sister! If she's in danger I'm going to go after her!"

He scowled at me, "No Lianna, I will."

"What? But-!"

"You heard me. If she, or Aerith, or any one of your friends are in danger I don't want you going after them. I'll go after them. I'm not going to lose you again, Lianna."

I sputtered in shock. Part of me was glad he wanted to protect me and didn't want me to get hurt but the other part was pissed! I can do anything just as well as him and who is he to say what I can or can't do, he hasn't even been here! "Why weren't you here!" I blurted out. "Why weren't you there to be my dad!? You can't just come in here and expect me to trust you when over half my life I believed you had abandoned me and mom!"

As soon as I saw the heart breaking sadness on his face I regretted saying what I did… "… I wasn't here because while your mother was still pregnant with you I was working at Shin-Ra as a scientist. I had been working under professor Gast until he had mysteriously vanished a few years before you were born. Only later did I find out Hojo had killed him… During that time though I had to work under Hojo… And one day I found a file... It was on human experimentation... Hojo had been kidnapping children and adults to use in experiments," he bit his lip, "Some turning into monsters, some super soldiers and others…" he trailed off, "I confronted him about it and demanded he stop. I guess I had assumed it was only him and not the entire company…" he breathed in heavily "He laughed at me… He laughed at me and told me he had collected some of my blood to use in his experiments. He said my blood was special, that it worked as the best catalyst for the Jenova DNA and mako energy to attach to human cells. He told me I could work with him on the experiments but I refused, so he locked me up and started experimenting on me..." I felt so horrible… I started crying and leaned against him. "It's okay honey," he held me close to him and kissed my hair, "… Ever since I was a child my dream was to be a father… When your mother got pregnant I was so happy I couldn't believe it. I wanted to hold you, sing to you, and read you bedtime stories… I've always wanted you sweetheart, I've always loved you… It killed me inside, knowing that I couldn't be there for you… I'm so sorry Lianna… I thought I was protecting you. I thought that if I went to you they would find out that you existed… I couldn't bear the thought of them experimenting on you too…"

"I'm sorry…!"

"Don't apologize honey. None of this is your fault."

"I'm sorry I got mad at you and hated you…! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. I understand."

"I love you…!"

"I love you too…"


	12. Safety

I woke to the smell of food cooking. Bacon…? I sat up. I was in my dad's room. I started looking around, the place looked rather nice; it was clean, it even smelled clean! The room was a soft bluish color with wood furniture… Blue was mom's favorite color… I saw a picture of her on his dresser and froze. Mommy… I crawled over to it and picked it up. It was the same picture that was on her dresser back home. Only... Something was different about this one... Or was it different...? There was a child in dad's arms... They all looked so happy together… Dad was holding mom and the child close with a backdrop of the ocean, "You're in that photo too." I turned my head to see my dad walk over to me, he put his finger on the picture, "See right there?" He smirked, "That's you." He was pointing to mom's stomach. I remember mom telling me the same thing, that this was a photo of all of us…

"Who's that?"

He looked at me concerned, "That's your brother."

"... I have a brother...?"

He held onto me, "You grew up with him in Kalm remember?"

I shook my head, "All I can really remember is mom... She had a photo like this on her dresser too... But I don't remember him being in it..."

"I want to show you something," I looked up at him, "Stay here for a moment." He walked out of the room, I could hear a wooden drawer slide open. He walked back in with a booklet, he sat down on the bed and pat the spot next to him. "You're mother and I made this scrapbook."

It was like I was a kid being told a bedtime story… He had one arm around me as he showed me the book, "Do you remember how your mom said she loved the ocean?" I nodded, "That's why I bought this house. We were going to move here together and hide from Shin-Ra. All four of us… I was actually coming to get you on the night of the fire…" I leaned closer to him and squeezed my eyes shut as tears threatened me. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart… I was just a few hours too late… Just a little bit…" I could tell he was trying not to cry, but he failed, "If I had just been a little sooner…!" He hugged me tight, "I'm so sorry honey! I'm so sorry!" He kissed my forehead once he had calmed down a bit, "When I escaped from Shin-Ra you were only about a year old. I sent a letter to your mom telling her what had happened. Since then we sent letters to each other; she told me how you three were doing and sent me pictures, and I told her about what was happening to me… Here," he opened the scrapbook. On the very first page was a brown haired toddler smiling sweetly at the chubby little baby with a fuzz of violet hair that he was holding in his arms… "Even right here we could tell you were my little mini me," he chuckled.

"He looks like mom..." I looked up into dad's face and realized they both had the same eyes.

"We both got our mini me's," he agreed.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know..." He admitted. "I've been searching for both of you for a long time..."

"How old is he?"

"He'll be eighteen next month..." I have a brother...? It felt familiar... Right... But I just couldn't remember...

It was so surreal, him showing me this scrapbook. I couldn't believe it… I didn't know what to think or to feel… It felt like I hardly knew him, like he was a stranger to me, but at the same time the more I spent time with him the more I felt like he really was my dad… I knew he was from the moment I saw him… He looks exactly like mom's pictures and he acts exactly like she described… I was actually getting to know him… More than stories and pictures, I finally heard his voice, his stories, the way he paints a picture of the world… I didn't really know what to do… I don't know how I should act around him. I don't even remember how I acted around mom to tell you the truth. I forgot how to be a kid and feel emotions for the longest time, not to mention I have been playing as someone else! William… I blushed I haven't even mentioned that I had been pretending to be a boy, let alone that I took his name… Lianna Williams… I guess it was a way I could be closer to him, for a while I would've never admitted that but now I guess I have. I could have easily chosen a different name like Cleary, ok I guess mom's maiden name would've been suckish. I smiled as I tried to hold back a laugh, I would've gotten even more harassed if I chose that name.

"What's so funny?" I looked up to see my dad smiling at me.

I blushed shaking my head, "Nothing…"

"Come on," his smile seemed to pry it out of me.

"… When I left Kalm I chose a new identity to keep me safe."

He grinned, "You're a smart girl."

I was happy yet embarrassed that he praised me, "I pretended to be a boy… I called myself William."

He looked so happy, "Even better! I'm proud of you."

"… Proud…?" I wasn't expecting him to say that…

"I'm very proud of you Lianna. You're a brilliant, brave little girl," he pet my face.

"I'm not little!"

He grinned, "You'll always be my little girl."

"I resent that!" I glared but just I couldn't stop my face from breaking into a grin.

"I'm sure you do," he grinned. "Come on, let's go get breakfast before it gets cold."

I froze when I saw what he had made; a bacon and egg omelet full of cheese, and bell peppers, "My favorite…"

"Your mom told me." My chest and throat constricted and I could feel tears stinging my eyes. He seemed to notice because he came over and held me, "It's okay. Shh... Everything's going to be okay."

After I had calmed down he pulled a chair out for both of us and sat next to me, even petting me while we ate... As we were eating he told me he was going to take me shopping for new clothes. I got a bit upset because I had bought these clothes myself. Sure they may look ragged and come from the slums but I got them with the money I earned and I told him so. Weird thing is though, I think I may have even smiled when he didn't take no for an answer, what's up with that? After breakfast I took a shower and wore some of his clothes while mine were being washed. Sure they were a bit big, but they were much more comfortable than mine. I grabbed a jacket out of his closet when we decided to head out; it was much more my style than the rest of his stuff. "You like it?" I nodded, "You can keep it."

"Thanks," I smiled.

It was weird shopping with him. My mind kept bouncing between two subjects; that I couldn't spend his money and that, after all this time, I find out I have a brother...? Why don't I remember him...? He offered me something and I looked at him strangely. A blouse? It looked kind of cute I guess; it was a soft purplish blue color with swirls of flowers. I looked at the price tag; 50 gil! I can't accept all this! I told him but he would just smile at me and say he wanted to buy me all of this stuff! Here I am used to scraping a few gil together to buy a new pair of shoes after mine had been overkilled and were beyond repair, cause some things even duct-tape can't fix after a while... But here he was offering to buy me over 400 gils worth of clothes! No one had ever done this for me before... I felt like crying... "How can you afford all of this?" I asked.

"I've been saving up," he smiled.

"I've been too and all I have is 50 gil!"

"I got paid pretty well by Shin-Ra in the past and I've saved my money since then more or less," when he saw my face he added, "It's the least they could do after what they did to us."

"Blood money..." I spat disgustedly.

"I agree, but I try not to think about that... I needed a way to fund my search for you." I looked up into his face seeing a mixture of sadness and guilt, but also joy, joy that he found me... "The majority of the funds I have left are from my work as a doctor though."

That surprised me, "A doctor?"

He nodded, "I was a doctor before I became a scientist. I was doing medical research at Shin-Ra..."

"Before you found out," I added.

He nodded, "I prefer just being a doctor now. Helping out at the local clinic. I don't make much and sometimes I work for free, but I like helping people."

"Then how do you have enough to buy all of this?" I asked.

He smirked, "I have my ways. And even if I was dirt poor I'd still give you the best I could," he ruffled my hair. His smile dropped immediately when he looked behind me, "We have to go. Come on," he turned me before I could see what was going on.

"Dad?" I asked worriedly as I tried to look around.

Before I could he said, "Act natural okay?"

As we walked back to the house he grew more anxious. We got to the door and shut it behind us. "What's going on?"

"We need to leave."

"What? I thought you said-."

He hugged me, "Everything's going to be okay," he held my face in his hands, "But we have to go now."

"M-my friends... We were traveling together..."

"We'll go with them," he agreed. He started grabbing a whole bunch of stuff and throwing it into two backpacks; a map, some books, clothes, weapons, the stuff we just bought, and a few more things.

"What can I do?" I asked.

"Get some food and toss it in this bag," he tossed me a pack and I rushed to the kitchen. My jaw dropped when I saw the pantry; I haven't seen this much food in ages! I shook myself a little and started packing everything. I haven't even seen some of this food before! This is high-quality food; the stuff you might see in some rich person's house! Or at least that's what it felt like for a kid growing up in the slums with only soups, broths, bread, rice, and beans! There was even chocolate! I haven't had chocolate since I lived in Kalm...! We got all the stuff together and started heading out but before we did I convinced dad to write a letter to Joan saying that we were safe and that I found my dad. He wrote a letter to someone too, I'm not sure who though. "I know where we can stay for a while if your friends want to."

"Where?" I asked.

"I know a man in Cosmo Canyon who would take us in."

"Cosmo Canyon?"

"It's a beautiful place where they study nature," he explained.

"Sounds cool."

"It is."

It was so hard being without her I couldn't stand it... I wanted to tell her how much I loved her but I thought that might not be a good idea at the time... I guess I was right... I'm so frustrated! We all spent the night in lower Junon but I kept tossing and turning, I couldn't sleep well. The little sleep I did have was invaded by her and her beautiful face... In some, the dreams turned into nightmares and I could hear her screaming. I tried so desperately to get to her but I couldn't! I was so glad when I woke up... Apparently today Rufus is having a parade, he makes me sick...

"How are we going to get up to the top?" Cloud asked.

"You could ride Mr. Dolphin! He can jump up to the top! You just have to grab onto the pole and look out for the electrical wire!" Priscilla shouted excitedly.

"Sounds like a job that would suit Cloud!" Tifa said.

"Yep definitely Cloud," Barret agreed.

"We'll follow you up if its safe," Tifa said.

"Now wait just a minute!" Cloud said.

"As much as I'd love to see Cloud riding a dolphin," I laughed, "I have a better way!" We said our goodbyes before I motioned for them to follow me as I walked over to the elevator.

"Hey kid, haven't seen you in a while!"

"Yeah, long time no see. How's your family?"

"Doing okay. My little girl wants to go into Opera and dance classes," he laughed. "How 'bout yours?"

"Um-," I shouldn't have mentioned family... "... My sisters are fine..."

"... I see..." He must have gotten the picture because he didn't ask anything else... "My condolences..."

"Thanks..."

"If you need anything kid, I'll be here."

"Thanks. My friends and I do need a ride."

"Free of charge," he put a hand on my shoulder, "Take care kid."

"You too..." I nodded as we went up.

"You know that guy?" Cloud asked.

"... He's a family friend..."

"That's good..." When we got up to the top I went to find the buyer for the mythril. I figured he'd still be in the same place. Pretty soon I saw a sign that read "You want it! We got it! - We only accept cash - All purchases must be made at the counter no exceptions!" and my favorite line "- NO STEALING violators will be shot".

We walked inside to hear a man shouting, "Next time don't put them so close to the paint! It dries out the sardines!- I mean the- Ah forget it!" I tried to hide a laugh. "Hello how can I help you!" he grinned when he saw me, "Danny my boy! I haven't seen you in carrots!-years! You know what I mean..." he sighed.

"You sound a bit hungry today," I joked.

"Ha-ha very funny!" he smirked, "So how've you been?"

"Okay... I'm here to sell."

He grinned, "Anything for George's son! Now what can I do you apples!" he growled and put a hand over his face.

"I'm selling mythril."

He whistled, "Sweet! We barely have any in stock! How much your dad willing to sell for?"

I could feel my throat constrict, "Dad's-," I cleared my throat, "Dad's not here... He's gone..."

"Jesus... Boy, I'm sorry..."

"... Midgar Zolom... Took them both..."

"... God... Poor kids... No wonder none of you came back..." He paused, "I'll tell you what. Show me what you got, name a snail and I'll pay it."

That cheered me up a bit and made me laugh a little, "I don't wanna be paid in snails but thanks anyways."

"Well! Then we ain't got no business then!" he laughed. "Good to see you smile again caterpillar-kid."

I chuckled, "Caterpillar kid... Kinda has a nice ring to it."

"Sure does!" I showed him my bag full of mythril and he whistled again, "This'll definitely be enough to sell for a while."

"Good."

"Name your price."

We took out all the mythril and set it on the counter pricing each one. With each price I set he would up it by at least 100 gil. "How can you afford all this?" I asked.

"Got a special customer. Been buying out my mythril lately, high demand. Should be showing up pretty soon. You might even want to sell it directly to potato turtle."

"Now that's an interesting name. Is it Mr. Potato Turtle or Sir Potato Turtle."

He grinned, "That's Mr. Potato Turtle to you Caterpillar Kid."

I heard the door chime and looked behind me; a man walked in with a flowing black coat, out of the corner of my eye I could see Cloud smirking as he looked at Joe's wares. The man's eyes landed on the counter and he rushed over to us. "How much are you selling these for!?" he asked Joe.

"I haven't officially bought these from Daniel yet, so you should ask him."

The man inspected me, obviously surprised, "I'll give you 3-400 gil for each."

"I know for a fact this piece alone is worth 600 gil," I said holding it up.

"Can't lower the price for this kid he knows his super turtles-," he sighed, "His stuff..."

I could tell the man was smiling in approval, "Alright then..." He named a few more prices.

"Well that's a better price but Joe was offering me a bit more," I said. I could tell this guy was sizing me up and respecting me even more. He named off a few more prices, "That sounds fair." I agreed. Joe grinned he was offering me much more than Joe had. I sold the mythril to the man and he left gleefully.

Cloud came up with a sword, "How'd it go?"

"Pretty well," I grinned. That was the first thing I sold without my dad! I still felt really depressed about losing them but doing this again made me feel like they were just right here with me... I inspected the sword he was holding, "You sure about that one?"

He looked it over in his hands again, "I think so. Pretty good grip, pretty balanced..."

"I'm not so sure," I said, "You can tell right here that the price does not match up with the quality," I said eyeing Joe.

He grinned, "You got me boy. I bought that one off of a one eyed samurai."

"What...?" Cloud asked.

"A shady dealer," I explained.

Cloud put it back, "Alright. Any good ones?"

"Now I don't know much about weapons but I do know something about quality," Joe said, "And I gotta tell you," he said leaning closer to us, "I haven't been getting much of those..."

I felt kinda bad. I jipped him out of a sale and he doesn't have much good stuff in stock... "Hey Cloud, can I see your bag?" he handed it over and I let Joe have a peek inside at the mythril.

"You might just save my shark Danny boy!" I sold him the mythril and handed that money to Cloud.

"Your idea and your sale," Cloud said, "Besides. I almost bought something I'd regret. How about you purchase supplies from now on?"

I grinned, "Alright." I gave him some gil just in case and headed out to buy more supplies. He knew a lot more about weapons, armor, and materia than I did. I'd say between the two of us we made a good team; the shop-keeps trembling in our wake. I laughed before I remembered Lianna. She needs me... I hurried to the next shop when I saw something. A golden heart shaped locket hung in the jewelry store window. I imagined her wearing that and blushed, I shook my head, she wouldn't wear it... But maybe...

We kept rushing through the streets, I still wasn't really sure what we were running from. Shin-Ra obviously, but where? I couldn't see anyone when I looked. Finally I grabbed him, "Dad. I don't see anyone," I whispered to him.

"A man a few yards back. He's been following us since we left the house," I peeked past him and saw a bald man in a black suit. The Turks! God how did I not notice him!? "He knows were we live now so we can't come back. At least not for a while. I made sure to keep the house clean of anything that they could trace to us except for the stuff we brought." Meaning he took all the pictures and other things... I felt really sad... I really wanted to live with him in that house... It reminded me so much of mom, like she was there with us... I hope they don't burn it as well. I don't think I could take that... But at least this time I have my dad I reminded myself. And my friends.

My mind kept returning to that. How did I not notice? I'm usually so vigilant... I guess being with him I let my guard down... I let him do all the thinking, the worrying, and the watching to make sure we were okay. In a way it made me relieved. So much relief that it felt like a miracle but at the same time I wanted to scold myself. To remind myself that I needed to do those things on my own in order to be safe. Life with him is so confusing so far...

We kept fast walking down streets for a while. My dad pulling me along. I don't know where he was going exactly. To the docks? Would they even let us board a ship? He must have a plan. I kept wondering where my friends were, would we find them? Where were they? Is Danny okay? Is Mary? Oh I was so worried! We finally stopped outside a shop. He looked like he was debating something, "I need you to wait out here a moment. If anything happens scream for me okay?" He looked like he really didn't want to leave me but at the same time he did. Whatever was in that shop he thought was worse than the Turks... That made me shiver... I kept watching, scanning the area for anything, everything that might happen. A few streets over I could hear Rufus' parade. I don't want to be anywhere near that sleaze ball or anyone from his company...

I screamed when someone grabbed me from behind but they clamped their hand over my mouth and put a knife to my throat. "Scream again and I'll gut you," I got my senses back online and tried to fight back. The man was awfully strong though. My skin crawled when I felt his breath on my neck, the smell of it reaching my nose and making me gag. The man was going through my pockets.

I kicked backwards catching him in the groin. I don't think he was expecting that. Surprising...

He staggered backwards and I kneed him in the face. When he fell I felt much better about myself. I wasn't getting weak after all! "Are you okay?" I looked behind me to see my dad. He grabbed me and held me close. I nodded. The man was groaning and gasping on the ground. Dad kicked the knife from him and started searching his pockets. He pocketed something and we walked off.

"What was that about? what'd you take?" I asked.

"I wanted him to feel the irony."

"What?" I laughed.

He smirked at me, "I'm kidding. I had to get a pass-card to someplace. I figured he'd have one."

"Where?"

"A place I don't want you going," he sighed, "I may have to rethink this plan... I'm proud of you for handling yourself back there but I don't want to leave you like that again."

"I'm fine," he glanced at me and I could tell he didn't believe me.

He squeezed my hand, "I'm not leaving you like that again." He stopped.

"What?"

"I have an idea." He pulled me in the direction of the Shin-Ra base.

"Are you crazy?" I asked pulling on his arm.

"Trust me honey. I know what I'm doing."

"A-are you sure?" I asked.

He held me close, "I'm sure. Don't be scared. I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you."

"O-okay..."

He kissed my hair and held me at arms length, "Everything's going to be okay." He held my face in his hands, "My plan is to go in there, get some disguises and head to the President's boat. They're going to Costa Del Sol."

"A-aren't they going to check us? Be suspicious?"

"Just follow my lead Lianna. I do stuff like this all the time."

"Okay," I nodded. I don't remember much about being at Shin-Ra but I know I don't want to be caught again! All I can remember is massive fear and pain; everything hurting so much that I couldn't handle it and kept passing out. Dad finding me was the only good thing about that place... We headed into the building and tried to do what dad said "Just act like you belong, Lianna. More often they'll stop the nervous person rather than the person who really looks like they know what they're doing, regardless of which one should be there or not." I breathed in deeply and followed his lead. Acting had become a strong point of mine but around dad I just wanted to be a kid so I had to fight against myself to remain composed.

He led us through, pointing things out to me occasionally like when we passed through the tunnel that led to the underwater reactor. I shivered. I don't like the water sometimes... It feels like anything could be swallowed up... We made it to the other town and went into a building. Dad told me to wait someplace while he casually walked up stairs and acquired two uniforms for us. He got us infantry uniforms, Good idea. I thought. Not too many people have hair like ours, I guess its sort of rare. We put them on and slung our packs over our shoulders. Honestly I felt much safer in disguise but I still felt disgusted putting on their uniform.

He led me through a tunnel and out onto the platform overlooking the docks. "Whoa..." The ocean looks amazing!

"This is your first time seeing the ocean," he reminded himself. "It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Yeah," I breathed.

"Your mother said that she wanted to go outside her front door each day and look at the sea," he said leaning on the bar beside me.

"I can see why."

"She's with us now you know," I looked at him, "Watching us from the Lifestream... So she's never truly gone. She's there and in our hearts."

I flashed back to something from years ago.

"I miss daddy!" I cried.

"It's okay honey, come here. Come to mommy," I walked over to her and she held me tightly in her arms.

"I want daddy!"

"I know, sweetie. I want him too," she kissed me, "But you know. No matter where he is, he's always in our hearts. So it's like he's right here with us."

"Really?"

"Really."

"If I write a letter to daddy telling him how much I want him do you think he'd come back?"

"Oh, sweetheart! You're daddy loves you very much and wants to be here just as much as you want him to," she said petting my hair.

"Then why isn't he home?" I cried.

"Because..." she breathed in, pausing for a moment, "Because bad bad people don't want him to. They're keeping him away from us."

"Why? Can't someone save him?"

"I don't know..." She was starting to cry.

I hugged her, "It's okay mommy don't cry. One day when I grow up I'll save daddy. Or maybe I'll even ask a superhero to help me! A superhero could bring him home mommy!"

She kissed my hands, "I pray to that superhero every single day," she kissed my forehead, "You're such a good girl. I love you and so does your daddy."

"Can I still write him a letter?"

She smiled at me, "Of course you can sweetheart! He'll love it!"

"Okay!" I hopped off from her lap, wiped my eyes and held my arms out, "Superhero away!" I shouted as I weaved through the room to get to my coloring paper and crayons, "Whoosh! Superhero Lianna, off to save daddy!"

I remember drawing myself as a superhero and telling him how much I loved him... I blushed. I had forgotten all about that. "Mom said that too." he smiled at me, "I remember writing you a letter. Did you get it?"

"Which one?" he asked.

I blinked. I only just remembered that I had even sent him a letter, I didn't really think about there being more. "Superhero...?"

He grinned, "'Superhero Lianna off to rescue daddy'?" I blushed, "That one was one of my favorites." He said putting his hand on my head and ruffling my hair. "Do you remember the letter I sent back?"

"You-you sent me a letter back...?"

"I replied to all your letters."

"I don't remember... Why didn't I remember you sending me letters..?"

"It was for less than a year that we were writing each other. Your mom and I were too afraid for you to find out the truth so we kept that hidden too... I'm sorry."

"No... It's okay. I understand."

He gave me a squeeze, "I love you honey."

"I love you too." We started to walk away but I wanted to look at the ocean some more. I looked back one more time.

I felt someone grab me again but before I could say or do anything a cloth went over my mouth and I started seeing spots in my eyes. Chloroform...

"I don't care what you say! We aren't leaving until we find her-him!"

"I never said we we're going to leave without him Danny," Cloud said, "I just said that we would miss the boat."

I huffed and clenched my fists, "Sorry." I was so frustrated I slipped up. No one seemed to notice though. Or at least I hope not, Lianna would kill me. God, I love her...

"First off we need to get uniforms," Tifa said. "Then we can sneak in, find him, then board the ship." We all agreed. Uniforms are definitely the best way to go and I know just where to get them. I told them to follow me, I led them to an old shop my dad told me about. It mostly sold black market goods but some legal things were sold there as well. We headed into an alleyway to see a man groaning on the ground. We walked past him and to the door. Cloud and Barret stepped in front of me before we entered. The place looked like an underground tavern with barbaric warriors bashing each others heads in with beer mugs. Dense smoke filled the air making it hard to breathe, everyone turned to us, leering at Aerith, Tifa, and Mary. We glared at them in return, keeping Mary and Aerith close. One guy walked up to Tifa and asked her to sleep with him, Cloud and I were about to step in when she punched him in the face and sent him over a table. A bunch of guys started laughing at him, some even spitting on him or thrashing him into the floor. I smirked I think the guys respected her after that.

We went up to the counter and asked about uniforms, the bartender flashed us a grin with about two or three missing teeth and said he had exactly what we needed. My stomach turned; I'm pretty sure I knew exactly where those missing teeth went. I grimaced as I nearly stepped on one of the white to brownish chunks littering the floor. The man led us to the back, the cellar was much cooler and moist like a cave, I breathed in gulps of fresh-well fresher- air. "How many do ya need?" the man sputtered.

Cloud froze for a moment and wiped something off of his face in disgust, "One for each of us and an extra."

"It'll be a bit hard to find one for the big fella. But I know just where to look!" He got uniforms for all of us and we tried them on, "500 gil for each!"

"200."

"450."

"225."

"400."

"These aren't worth more than 225," I said.

"I could've just stolen some from the guards," Cloud said.

"You're right!" Yuffie said, "That'd be a much better deal! We could probably even score some materia too!" she chirped like a bird as she hopped. I rolled my eyes, but hey they were helping to lower the price.

"Yea let's go," Barret said.

"Now hold on a minute! Where else are you gonna find a pair of clothes that would fit you two?" he pointed to Red and Barret.

"Dunno," Barret admitted, "Probably aren't too many uniforms my size."

"What about that sailor we saw a while ago? Yuffie said, "He was sleeping by the docks and I saw the glint of materia on him!" Back to the materia! I thought. As much as I wanted to hate Yuffie though she was actually kind of growing on me and that is something I did not want to admit even to myself...

"Yo, why didn't you say something earlier? Could'a saved us some trouble!" Barret said walking to the door, "Just knock that guy out and we'd be done."

"I guess we don't have a deal," I said.

"225 each," the man said.

"Hmm... I don't know... What do you guys think?" I asked.

"I still wanna knock that guy out and take his materia," Yuffie admitted.

"225 is a good deal guys. I'm losing money on this and you know it."

"Hmm... I guess so." I said. Saves us a lot of trouble, I thought.

"Then it's a deal."

"Deal," I said. Handing over the gil.

When we walked out of there I allowed myself a smug smile, "Thanks for the help back there guys."

"Heh! I loved the look on that guys face," Barret grinned.

"I like how you added about the materia we'd get if we stole the uniforms. Good idea!" Mary laughed.

"I wasn't kidding!" Yuffie moped, "Why didn't we just knock them out?"

Barret roared in laughter, "And here I was playin' off you!"

We followed the parade to the Shin-Ra building. Where do we go now? I wondered. I just realized that we don't even know where we're going. I slumped my shoulders, "Hey! What are you guys doing here!" I jumped. "You guys are late! You need to be at Rufus' send off right now!"

"Bu- wait-!" I started as the guy grabbed me and pulled me along.

"No 'buts'! You don't hurry up and we all get fired!" He dragged me down a slope towards the docks. I saw Rufus being sent off, "Damn! Hurry up and get down there!" He pushed me down the hill. I had to run in order to not fall over. Once he was gone we started heading back up the hill, I glanced to my right and saw a wisp of violet hair. I froze as I saw a man carrying Lianna to a dark area. I started chasing after, the others following in step behind me.

I ran to the platform overlooking the docks and into the shadows. The man ran from us through a maze of shipment containers before we pinned him in a corner, "Put her down!" I yelled.

The man shifted her closer to him and pulled out a sword. Anger boiled inside of me as I saw her limp form. How dare he touch her! I was glad to see her in a uniform like us. They must've recognized her when her helmet fell off or something. "Just leave us alone!" he readied his blade.

I growled, What a creep! I came at him with my blade, trying to get him away from her. I was partially relieved when I saw her stirring, She's alright! Thank god! She saw the man holding her and struggled then she looked over to us. She was freaking out, I pulled off my helmet, "Lianna it's me."

"D-Danny?"

"You know them?" The man slumped his shoulders with what looked like relief.

"Lianna?" Cloud asked.

I grabbed her, pulling her away from the man and into my arms, "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried about you!" I was so relieved to see her safe and sound. "I'm so sorry...! I don't ever want to lose you again...!"

I heard footsteps and looked up, the man had taken off his helmet... He looked exactly like her. Her dad... He saved her... He started glaring down at me with a look of murder, that's when I realized I had been holding her for an awfully long time. I blushed and let her go. Her face was completely red, that made me smile. I got her to blush, that's a good sign. "And who exactly are you?" He asked coldly.

"Dad, this is my friend Danny."

"Dad!" Aerith hugged Gray.

"It's good to see you," He smiled.

"So you are Lianna!" Aerith pulled her into the hug.

"Yeah," she nodded her face getting redder.

"You're both my girls." He kissed the top of their heads.

"So you're a girl?" Cloud asked.

She nodded, "That explains a lot," Barret said.

Mary walked up to them and hugged Lianna, "I'm glad you're okay."

Lianna hugged her back tightly. "Hello," she looked up to Gray smiling at her. "Are you Mary?" she nodded, "Lianna tells me you're her sister."

Mary's face brightened, "Yep! We've been best friends ever since we lived in Kalm together!"

"You're-you're from Kalm...? You're the little girl from the letters... Lianna and her mom wrote to me about you. You're Ken and Marissa's daughter..." Her face dropped and she nodded, "I'm sorry." He hugged her.

"Yo! 'Don't mean to be rude but we better get goin', I don't think anyone of us wants to miss that boat!" We agreed and headed out. Gray held the girls close, occasionally turning his head to glare at me; keeping me away from his daughter the whole way. I sighed, just when I was starting to get closer to Lianna and tell her how I feel, her dad shows up. This is going to be a long trip...


	13. Adrift

The boat swayed incessantly making me a bit uneasy. I grit my teeth, being so close to the enemy did not make me feel good at all. An arm wrapped around me pulling me close, "Everything's going to be okay Lianna," My dad whispered. It feels good having him here but he's really overprotective. He won't let me near Danny at all! I jumped when we heard an alarm and my dad held me tighter. We stood there for a moment before we realized they weren't after us. "Someone must've been caught," he said worriedly.

"We need to go check on them," I said rushing up the stairs.

He grabbed my arm, "Wait! We-!" I cut him off by pulling my arm out of his grasp and running up the stairs. "Lianna wait!"

I saw Cloud and the others gathering in one spot, he watched us run up, "Everyone's here right?" We all did a head count.

"So if it wasn't us who was it?" Mary asked.

"Sephiroth!?" Cloud said. Everyone panicked and started talking over each other, "Who's gonna go with me?"

"There should only be three or four of us," Barret said, "I'll go."

"I will as well," Nanaki said.

"Same here," Tifa agreed.

"Me too!" Aerith said.

"No!" Dad said grabbing Aerith's arm, "It's too dangerous!"

"I'll be fine!" The pleading look he gave silenced her. She looked down, "Alright."

"It'll be okay," Cloud said, "Thanks Aerith." He turned to dad, "Then you watch after all of them okay?"

He nodded. Dad paced back and forth as he watched over us. "Hey," I turned to see Danny next to me and blushed. "How are you doing?"

I glanced at the ocean, "Okay," I looked away quickly when I saw Yuffie lean over the guard rail, hearing her moan and plead with god.

"Good," I think he was going to say more but at that moment dad came over and put his arm around me.

I sighed. "So how did you two meet?" he asked.

I blushed, "I punched him in the face," dad tensed, "I thought he was harassing a girl but it was just his sister." Dad still looked pretty upset, I winced. I probably should have worded that better...

"So why were you bothering your sister?"

"Dad," I glared at him.

"I was teasing her about how she was afraid of bugs."

I thought dad was going to be even more upset but he smirked, "I admit I did that with my sister when I was younger too..."

Sister...? Mary did tell me about my aunt and uncle... "Do you have any pictures of them?" I asked.

"In my bag and in the scrapbook," he said.

We heard another loud noise and dispersed on the deck. A man walked through talking about Sephiroth and Jenova. My gut clenched; I can't handle that thing, Jenova gave me the chills. Pure evil radiated off of that thing in waves; like a tidal wave of darkness crashing over my soul and making everything go cold... I shivered again and rubbed my arms. It was so cold out here! I felt something drape over my shoulders I looked around to see dad put his coat over me. "It'll be okay honey." I really like having him here. He's a good dad...

When we arrived in Costa Del Sol we went to the inn to finally ditch those dumb uniforms. Dad looked more and more relieved the further we got from the docks. When we were all finished changing dad and Nanaki stared for a moment before dad smirked, "You did pretty well back there, Nanaki. I didn't realize you weren't human." I snorted, to be fair we were distracted. Wait, when did they introduce themselves?

"As did you. It's good to see you again Gray."

"It's good to see you too."

"You've met before?" I asked.

Dad nodded, "I told you I had friends in Cosmo Canyon... Though I expected you to be there with your grandfather," dad told him.

Nanaki nodded, "Yes. I would be if not for Shin-Ra. The Turks came for us, it was either I or Deneh."

"I'm sorry."

"Hojo tried to 'breed' you and Aerith," my face twisted in disgust when I remembered.

"What!?" Dad's face was a mixture of horror, disgust, and rage. I winced perhaps I should'nt have remembered that.

"Yes. Hojo is a foul creature. That is for sure."

Aerith came over and hugged dad, "I'm okay." I didn't think anyone else had heard our conversation.

He lowered his voice so I couldn't hear him. She shook her head, and I realized she had hugged herself before he hugged her again. "Everything's going to be okay. I won't let him take you again. I promise."

"I know. Thank you."

My face soured, I didn't like him hugging her. I want his attention! I was glad when he turned away from her and walked back over to me with a smile. "Let's look around and spend some time together." He hugged me before Aerith, Mary, and Daniel anted to join us. Oddly enough I wanted it to be just me and him but I agreed to let them come along too. When we were out the door, he held out the crook of his elbow for me to hug his arm but I didn't. I just didn't feel that comfortable with that yet. Part of me wanted to though... Even though I wanted it to just be me and him, I smiled, he was like the dad of the team. We visited a place to buy some food and drinks, Danny bought us all some slushies and hot dogs. "Where did you get all this money?" Dad asked him.

"We all picked up some mythril in the mythril mine and I sold it to my dad's old friend in Junon for 300-1000 gil per ore," he grinned.

"How much did you sell?" I asked.

"Only two bags worth. Mine and Cloud's. Which reminds me," he pulled over his bag and opened it up. Inside was some of my stuff; he had tied our bags together and tied my sword to the outside of it. I hadn't even noticed... I guess I'd been a bit out of it. To be fair we've been rushing back and forth and just now got to sit down and rest a little while. "Here."

He gave me my stuff, "A sword!" dad looked surprised.

"I can defend myself," I said, "How do you think I survived in the slums?" All my stuff was there including the mythril I stockpiled; I wanted to get a new house for me and Mary... I looked at my dad, he looked surprised and, proud I think?

He smiled at me, "Good job."

"We all got some!" Mary grinned, "Except for Yuffie, she wasn't there... Danny's smart! I would've never known to collect it if he hadn't said something!"

Dad was looking at him again. I couldn't quite tell what he was thinking though. "Good job," he said finally.

"Thanks... My parents taught me everything they knew about their trade before they... Passed on..."

"I'm sorry." Dad looked at him more softly after that. I looked over to Aerith, she wasn't talking that much. I guess it's because she wanted me to have more of his attention.

After we ate we walked through town some more, Danny separated from us at one point and went shopping with Cloud for any extra supplies Costa Del Sol might have. "Could you tell me more about my brother?" I asked as dad and I walked along the beach.

I looked over to the side of the beach and saw Mary and Aerith building a sand castle together, I smiled. "You two were really close. He protected you from some of the bullies in the neighborhood and even saved your life from a monster that had wandered too close to the village..." I looked at him surprised, "You stumbled upon it in the fields when you were playing and it attacked you. He threw rocks and screamed at it until my brother Reid came outside and chased it off. You were hurt pretty bad but they took care of you," concern covered his face.

"Was he okay? Did he get hurt?"

He nodded, "He had a few scars on his chest and arms."

"I'm sorry..." I wasn't really sure what else to say... Why can't I remember him...?

Dad put his arm around me. "It's okay. You've been through a lot..." He changed the subject and chuckled, "You two were so close he even let you give him make overs."

I blushed and laughed, "Danny's like that with his sisters. His youngest sister Chloe is eight years old. A few years ago she was crying so much and we didn't know what to do so he picked her up in his arms and told her that he needed a make over! She was so happy coloring on his face with lipstick and painting his nails!" I couldn't stop laughing.

Dad was too, "He sounds like a really good brother."

"She drew a pink mustache on him with the lipstick! She was making cats and murals! At the end Joan took a picture of them both. Chloe was grinning ear to ear."

"He's a good kid."

I smirked, "Funny to hear you say that seeing as how you keep glaring at him."

He grew serious, "I don't want you dating yet."

"WHAT!? Dad!" I punched at him, my face growing redder and redder.

He laughed while he held my wrists so I couldn't hit him, "So he's not your boyfriend?"

Boyfriend! Ugh! I couldn't even look at him; I covered my face with my hands, "Oh my god... We are not having this conversation..."

He continued to laugh when he ruffled my hair, then he froze. My eyes followed the direction of his to land on Hojo. I backed up, tripping over a child's sandcastle and falling down. Dad picked me up, freezing when Hojo looked over at us, showing us a creepy grin that sent shivers down my spine. He walked away. We stared as he went over to a lounge chair took off his robe and-. Dad covered my eyes. Thank god... I didn't need to see anything more... He turned me around and pulled me off the beach.

The four of us rushed to the inn. Nanaki lifted his head from the couch to look at us before lounging once again. "Barret is in the restroom trying on his marshmallow pajamas," Nanaki chuckled.

"Hojo is here," dad told him. Nanaki's head shot up, "He's on the beach... Tanning..."

"What..? Well, that is unexpected... He didn't approach you?"

"He just grinned at us like a creeper and walked off..." I said.

"Creeper...?"

I explained and Dad hugged me, "Lianna." He looked at me concerned, "He didn't touch you did he?" He whispered to me.

I shivered. God I hope not! I was out most of the time! I shook my head, "I don't know. I was unconscious..."

He tensed and held me tighter. The thought that dad believed Hojo would do something like that made my stomach turn; I felt like I was going to throw up... After a while dad and I went to the bedroom to talk privately, there were a large number of beds again but that was fine. I laid down on one, finally a soft bed again. Dad sat down next to me and we talked about our lives, "What was my brother's name?" I asked, so dad flipped open to the middle of the scrapbook and showed me. It was a picture of my brother grinning, a large fish in his hands and a Band-Aid across his nose, behind him my uncle was holding me and teaching me how to put a hook on the line.

"Joseph."

"He looks happy."

"He caught his first fish," dad pointed to the letter next to the photo. "Joey told me how happy he was and said that he felt bad that you didn't catch any fish that time out."

I smirked, "I'm not really that good at fishing."

"How would you like to go fishing sometime?"

I smiled, "Maybe."

He sighed, "I wish I could've taken you both on your first fishing trip. We've missed so much..."

I leaned my head against him and he pet me. I really like when he does that. It feels good. Over the years I've been starving for love and affection so now I can't stop asking for it. In a way it feels really weird but at the same time I feel like I'll die if I don't get it. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I gasped awake. Something was wrong, I looked at the bed beside mine. Dad? I got up and started looking around. My heart quickened and my stomach turned. Something was really wrong!

I heard talking and followed it to the front hallway of the inn. "If I go with you, you have to promise to leave her alone."

Dad! I rushed to the door and tried to open it. The door wouldn't open, something was propped on the other side, "I'm sure that could be arranged."

My eyes widened, "No! Dad no!"

"Go back to bed Lianna," dad ordered.

Hojo laughed, "Or we could just take you both now."

"You can get more blood from me! And I promise, I won't try to escape!"

"Dad! Stop! Please!"

His laugh echoed around in my mind until I screamed.

I woke up shaking and sweating. "Just a nightmare..." I muttered rubbing my eyes. I looked to my dad's bed. "No!" I got up and looked around frantically. "Dad! Dad!"

Someone grabbed me and held me close, "Hey, it's okay. He's downstairs."

"Danny..?" I hugged him tightly.

"It's okay, calm down." We heard commotion downstairs and I bolted for the staircase.

He grabbed me and pushed me behind him, "Don't you dare!" I ripped at his shirt.

"Relax, we're not here for all of you. Where's your daughter?" I knew that voice!

"She's not here. She left with the others."

"Is that so? You just left your precious little girl with people you hardly know? Hmm... I guess you wouldn't mind us looking around then."

"Not a chance," Cloud's voice echoed up the staircase.

"You only really need one of us. My blood is more than enough for your experiments."

"Now where's the fun in that!"

I tried to screech but Danny had his hand over my mouth and was backing me towards the window. I struggled against him, I knew what dad would do... He would leave me...! I can't go through that again! I bit and clawed at him but still his hand remained firm over my mouth. "Please Lianna! I'm only trying to protect you!" He whispered to me.

I pulled his hand away from my mouth, "I need him, Danny!" I cried.

"I know. I'm so sorry."

"Please! Just let me see him!"

"They'll take you both."

"Please Danny!" We heard footsteps coming towards the staircase and Danny pushed open the window. A white awning held up by brick was below us and further down the courtyard. No one seemed to be down there.

"If you get away, he has a chance to get away too. But if they catch you, they will take you both. Go," he told me. I nodded and shakily climbed out the window with Danny behind me. I could hear my dad yelling out my name as we rolled onto the patio below. There were two doors on either side of us leading into the inn and another building, in front of us was a lattice wall woven with plants, and behind us was the open archway leading onto the streets. He grabbed my hand and we rushed into the back alleyways of Costa Del Sol. We weaved through boxes and around corners until we spotted a door on our right he flung it open and we hid inside. It was pitch black. He held onto me tightly as he searched around.

He cursed when he hit a something, "Watch out for the metal," he whispered. I could hear something chattering, "Rats. Be careful." We felt through the room, finding what seemed like a staircase leading upwards. We skipped over it and found a cabinet, he opened it and we heard something spill out. It kind of sounded like pebbles or rice scattering on the ground. "Not that one." He muttered. "Here. A door." We opened it and felt our way inside; it was a tiny room filled with dust, inside was another cabinet, "Good thing you're not afraid of spiders," he said as we huddled inside together. We barely had enough room to fit in there together. It was very intimate but all I could think about was my dad and praying he wouldn't leave me again. "It'll be okay." I could feel his breath on my face.

"I want my dad..." I said leaning against him.

"I know." We stood there for what seemed like hours in silence. All I wanted was to see my dad one last time but I figured I would never get that chance now. I cried on his shoulder as he comforted me. I was expecting to hear someone burst in at any moment and try to take me away. "It'll be okay."

I jumped when I heard something crash. We both remained silent as we heard footsteps and muffled voices. "Damn rats! I f***ing hate rats!"

"Looks like no one's been here in ages," another person commented.

"You think they're in here?" a third person asked.

"I told you I saw them run in here!" it was the first voice.

"That was over an hour ago they could've run off by then!"

"You be the look out then!"

I knit my brow. That didn't sound like the Turks... "Let's try in here, idiots." We heard the closet open and I was thankful that we were in the cabinet. The man cursed, "This place is crawling with spiders!"

A light shown into the crack and someone else cursed, "Oh god! Those things are huge! I am NOT going in there!"

"Jesus! Are those black widows!? I've never seen them so big!"

"No one would be stupid enough to go in there," the voice said closing the door.

"Guess no one's getting rich today." We listened as their voices trailed off.

"We're in a cupboard filled with black widows!" I hissed.

"Have you gotten bitten?"

"No, you?"

He sighed in relief, "Good."

"I have the creepy crawlies! I want out now!"

"Me too! Just give it another moment." We waited for a few more minutes by then I just couldn't take it anymore and we burst out of there. He peeked out the door before he ushered me out. We both shook out our clothes vigorously when he stared at me. "Don't move!" I froze. Oh god get it off me! He picked up a length of my hair and brushed something off. I watched where it landed to see a giant black spider about the size of a grape crawl away. He inspected my clothes to make sure nothing else was there before I inspected his. "Next time maybe we should bring a flashlight."

I agreed but at the same time, if we did they would've caught us. We looked at the sky it looked like it was around noon. "Dad!" I started running back to the inn when he grabbed me again.

"I'll go back first. They're not looking for me." I was about to interrupt but his look silenced me. He walked me back part of the way when we met Yuffie.

"Hey guys! Where've you been?" she asked cheerily.

"The Turks showed up at the inn," Danny explained. She scowled. "Could you go back and see if they're gone?"

"Where should I meet you?"

"Do you know any place where we could lay low?"

She thought for a moment, "Either out of town, the cocktail bar, or an open house I saw by the docks. The cocktail bar might be the best, it's pretty dark and crowded in there and they sell a really good cherry lime aid."

"That sounds good," he agreed.

"Please tell my dad I'm okay," I begged. "I don't want him to go with Shin-Ra!"

She nodded and showed us to the bar before heading off. We went inside and cooled off a bit, I didn't realize how hot it had been until we went inside. The waiter showed us to a couple's table in the far corner and ordered us something to eat and drink, before making a comment about our 'date'. I was blushing when Danny pulled out the chair furthest from the door and motioned for me to sit down before pulling his chair beside mine. He sighed and put his head in his hands before smiling at me. The room was extremely dark with a reddish hue but I could tell that he still looked exhausted. "You okay?"

I shook my head, "... I knew this would happen... I had a nightmare of it last night..." He took my hand and squeezed it before stroking his thumb across the top.

"I'm sorry," he was silent for a moment before he said, "Chloe did too. The night before our parents died."

"I'm sorry," I looked down at the table.

"We tried to tell her that it was just a nightmare but she continued to yell and scream. She didn't want us to go through the marsh... We should've listened to her... But none of us believed her... We all blamed ourselves after that, especially her. She kept saying that she could've prevented it," he shook his head, "But she was only three or four at the time..."

I put my other hand on his and squeezed, he forced a smile. Two drinks were placed on the table in front of us, "Two cherry limeades! And your orders are coming right up!" A perky waitress smiled and bounced away from our table.

I could barely even taste mine. My mind kept flipping back and forth between how much I wanted my dad and how much I loved Danny holding my hand. I blushed into my glass when Danny slipped his fingers in between mine... "It'll be okay." He reassured me.

I jumped when the front door burst open; Danny stood up in front of me and I heard something run towards us and bowl into him. Arms wrapped around him, "Where's Lianna!?"

I stood up and Mary pulled me into a hug, "Lianna I'm so sorry!" she cried. My heart stopped and everything started going blurry. I could barely hear her, "They took him away! They said they caught you! That if he wanted you to be safe he had to go with them!" I couldn't breathe... I collapsed... The last thing I remember is Danny and Mary catching me before I hit the ground...


	14. I'm Sorry

Something was touching me... I scrunched my eyes as I felt a dampness on my forehead. I opened my eyes slowly to see Danny hovering over me. I remembered what had happened and pushed him away from me! "It's all your fault!" I cried out. My head started swimming and I started falling backwards; my head nearly slamming on the ground.

Someone caught me, "It's not his fault Lianna," Mary was stroking my hair.

"If he hadn't made me leave-!" I sobbed.

"I'm sorry Lianna-I-," he started.

"Just leave me alone!"

"We think he was taken back to Junon," Cloud kneeled down next to me. "But there's a problem. We can't go back that way. There's higher security and they won't let us through."

"We can't just leave him!"

"I know. But Lianna, he knows how to escape from there."

"No! I can't leave him! I just found him again!"

"I know..." He looked away, "It's not fair..." He paused a moment, "He made me promise that if you two ever got separated again that we would look after you."

"What..? But- he hardly knows you!"

"He's taken care of us so far though, right?" Mary said. "Kind of like a big brother," she looked at Cloud for reassurance and he nodded.

"We're all a family now... And I promise you that once Shin-Ra lowers their guard we're gonna go in after him," he paused, "Right now though we have to wait for things to cool down a bit..."

I couldn't stop crying. I understood but I just couldn't take it emotionally. "Lianna... He left his bag here," Mary told me softly.

"He-he did?" I tried to get up slowly but she put a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll get it," Cloud said getting up.

"No I got it," Danny said rushing off. He brought it back and set it down next to me before stepping back and looking at me sadly. I glared at him before digging through dad's bag...

I opened it and found several things inside; clothes, first aid items, some other items I couldn't identify, the picture frames, a photo album, the scrapbook, and more. I grabbed the scrapbook and held it close. I'm so glad he left it in his bag! I opened it up to find him and mom and just stared at them for a while wishing they were here. After a long time Cloud put his hand on my shoulder, "We need to get going. Will you be okay?"

I nodded. We got all of our things together, Cloud helped by carrying dad's bag, then we left Costa Del Sol. It hurt leaving him behind but I knew I couldn't do anything for him. I didn't know how to break in on my own without getting caught and I was too terrified to be close to them anyways, so I'd just end up getting into trouble...

We walked through the valley and along a cliff to get around it and go up higher. It just felt like we kept weaving and weaving I was getting exhausted. The sun was close to setting when we made it to the base of the foothills and Cloud said we should set up camp. I was so relieved. I pitched up dad's tent with Mary's help and laid down inside exhausted. I saw the concern on her face as she looked at me, biting her lip before saying, "Please don't be mad at him. He was only trying to keep you safe."

Looking her over made me remember how upset Mary got when people were fighting. It gave me a twinge of pain knowing the I was the reason she was on the verge of tears... I stroked my hand over the scrapbook in my lap. I know that's what he was trying to do but I couldn't help thinking he could have done it in a better way. I couldn't think of one, but there must've been a better way right? I wish I had had a cell phone or something to tell dad I had been alright so he wouldn't have went with them. But would that even have helped..? I wondered. "Lianna?" I looked up, realizing I hadn't answered her question.

"I know..." I told her. Honestly it was easier to stay mad at him though, because then it just helped cover up the pain... But I should refocus my anger to Hojo and the Turks... I thought, It's their fault not his... I bit my lip, "I'll apologize soon..."

"Why not now?"

Why not now? Because I still felt like crud and think I'll only make things worse, "... I don't feel well right now..."

"Are you sick?" she asked kneeling down to check my forehead.

My lips barely twitched into a smile, She's so innocent, "... Emotionally and mentally..."

"Oh... Right..."

I ruffled her hair and forced my smile wider and gave her a hug, "Don't worry okay?"

She nodded and I could tell she was forcing a smile too, "Okay."

When I woke up I realized I had fallen asleep waiting for dinner. Breakfast was good though. We started the trail into the mountains today; it was so dusty and dry with the sun beating down on us. Thousands of footprints blended into the path, grass outlining the sides in a sharp contrast. Occasionally a sparse cropping of trees would pop up, giving us a nice bit of shade. We had taken at least three breaks since we had started. The sun was barely showing that it was noon and we were all exhausted, except for Cloud oddly enough. I don't know how he could keep on going! I've been training for the longest time and I was sweating buckets! But Cloud, he looked like he had just been sauntering through a cool field of daisies!

"I know them soldiers are tough. But damn Cloud! Ain't you exhausted like the rest of us?"

"In SOLDIER they gave us mako injections to make us stronger."

Everything was uneventful until we heard a loud squawking noise, I turned to see a giant blue bird staring us down and scratching her long sharp claws on the ground in challenge. She made another loud squawk that hurt my ears as she ripped through the air like a bird of prey. She was heading right towards me and Mary. Danny jumped in front of us drawing his blade but was knocked over by the full force of the creatures blow. He landed on his back with the wind knocked out of him. Cloud drew his blade before Mary cried out, "Don't hurt her!" Everyone stared at her with shocked expressions when she walked over to her slowly with her arms out in front of her.

"Mary stop!" I hissed.

"No. It's okay. See? She's not gonna hurt me. Will you? No that's not what you want..." She kept sliding closer cooing at it. She was making me unbearably nervous.

"Mary," I warned as the creature inched towards her huffing out of its beak.

"It's okay. You're not gonna hurt anyone are you?" I glanced over at Cloud; he had his blade ready just in case something were to happen but Aerith had a hand out in front of him with a small smile. What has gotten into these two!? I thought.

Mary got within a foot of the creature making me tense. Any moment the creature could decide to stab her with its beak. I jumped when the birds beak came close to her hand and finally stopped. Mary pet the creature on the beak, "See. Its okay. What did I tell you?" she said petting it. I scowled in confusion when I realized the bird was calming down. She was taming this thing! "Is that so? See I knew there wasn't a problem. You were just worried huh? Aww! You have little babies!" My eyebrows went up when I realized she was having a 'conversation' with this bird. "That's so adorable! How many? Four! Aww!"

"Y'all just see what happened?" Barret asked looking just as confused as the rest of us.

"What's going on Mary?" Cloud asked.

"Some Cetra can talk to animals!" Aerith grinned.

"What!?" We asked making the bird jump startled and Mary have to calm her once more.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"There aren't any animals in the slums... And I didn't remember..." She looked upset like I had just gotten mad at her.

"That's really cool Mary! I probably knew in Kalm. We just both forgot I guess," she gave me a smile small looking relieved.

"Can you do that?" Tifa asked Aerith.

"Sometimes," Aerith said. "But not as well as her. I usually am able to talk more with plants."

"You can talk to plants huh?" Barret asked. Nanaki just chuckled at the rest of us like he knew something we didn't.

"That explains a lot," Yuffie said. "All of the plants I've seen just drift towards you like you're the sun," she illustrated her point with her body.

Aerith grinned, "They loved to grow at the church and at my house. They just kept springing up full of joy!" she spread her arms in exclamation. She jumped, "It's one of the most wonderful joys of a Cetra; to bring things to life and to speak things in motion! The planet answers the calls of the Cetra filling us full of joy!"

Mary grinned. "You're makin' me a bit jealous," Barret smirked.

"I agree," Tifa said. The rest of us nodded.

"Shena here was just trying to protect her babies from us. She thought we were a threat."

"Just traveling through," Cloud said. "We don't mean any harm."

Shena nodded subtly like she understood, "She has to go make sure her babies are okay. She said to be careful; the path is quite rocky up ahead and some of the creatures won't be nice," she looked back at the bird before saying, "Especially the thunderbirds, they like to hurt people."

As we continued traveling I felt more and more like I didn't know as much as I thought I did about my best friend. Cetra were so unique... I wonder what else she could do? I talked to her as we traveled side by side. It kinda felt like I didn't know her at all in a way. She was so shy and reserved that she didn't say much unless it was just me and her, but even then. I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard rocks sliding and Danny yelling.

My eyes widened in fear as I watched Danny tumble down the cliff to our right, "Danny!" Without thinking I slid down after him. My hands were getting cut up even through my gloves but all I could think about was him. I watched in horror as he continued to roll down the mountainside, I could hear rocks breaking and limbs cracking. I shuddered as I saw him lie motionless at the bottom far far below. "Danny! Danny!" I screamed. When I finally landed at the bottom I ran to him, my heart was beating so wildly that I couldn't hear anything. I turned him over, "Please Danny! Please! Please! Please! Please don't die!" I held my hand over my mouth covering a sob. He wasn't breathing! "Oh god... Please Danny."

I threw off my pack and gloves and dug inside. I found a phoenix down, some gauze, and the other emergency supplies. I lifted his head, pouring the contents into his mouth slowly and shakily. I could barely see through the tears in my eyes, "Please Danny. Please wake up!" I finished pouring the bottle and held his head to my chest petting his face. It felt like forever before he finally started coughing, I breathed in a shaky sigh of relief before squeezing him and burying my face in his hair.

"Li-," he coughed, "Lianna?"

"Don't do that again!" I yelled at him.

"I'm sorry... I tripped..." he winced. "Lianna- I. I think I broke my leg..!"

"You died!" I wailed.

"What..!?" That startled him.

"Don't ever do that to me again!" I squeezed him one last time before I propped my bag behind him and gave him a potion to take. I could immediately tell which leg and lifted it up by his pant leg gently, pulling out my pocket knife as I sliced his pant leg open. I shivered; I could hardly even look at it... I grabbed a piece of cloth out of the bag, "Here, open your mouth." He bit down on it as I tried to set in his leg. It was difficult but I managed to twist his leg enough to pop it back in. A shiver ran through my spine when I heard the sound. I got two sturdy sticks for a brace and wrapped it with a few bandage rolls, sighing in relief when it was over.

"Good thing Joan taught you how to wrap up that kid's leg huh?" He joked weakly.

I was thanking her for the experience too. "Where else are you hurt?"

"... A little bit everywhere... But especially my chest," he winced.

I pulled up his shirt to see his shoulder and chest displaying thick gashes on either side of a giant bruise. He held up his shirt while I applied alcohol and bandages, making sure to clean the wound thoroughly. "... You're always getting hurt..."

"I try not to."

I smirked for a moment before I grew upset again, "You're not very good at it."

"Same with you."

"I only got hurt when you made me flustered!" I blushed.

"Sorry..."

"I didn't mean it like that Danny," I wiped some blood off of his face, "I'm sorry for blaming you. It wasn't your fault... It's just easier to blame and be angry than to deal with any other emotions," I admitted.

"I understand," he smiled at me. "And I'm okay now, I feel much better thanks to you. So smile."

I tried to force a smile but I was still too worried about him. He pulled me into his chest, wincing as he did so, "Smile." My face grew hot as giddiness ran through me, now I couldn't help but to smile! "Good."

I stayed there for a moment longer, enjoying myself, before I realized we weren't safe. I pulled back, "Danny. We're not safe here."

"You're right." I stood up looking to the top of the mountain and I think I could see the others, but honestly I'm not sure, the sun was peeking over the top of the mountains and blinding the ridge with light and it was such a long way up too! My stomach turned as I realized how far we had descended. How are we going to get back up!? My head grew dizzy and I fell to my knees, "You okay!?" He tried to get up but couldn't.

I nodded, "Just a bit dizzy..." I don't like heights...

I suddenly flashed back. I looked around seeing nothing but darkness. Grass appeared, reflecting the starlight off of its dew. "Lianna hurry!" A boy held my hand as we ran through the night.

"I'm trying Joey!" I cried. "I want daddy!"

"Don't worry! He'll come find us! Just come on!"

"I can't run anymore! It hurts!"

"I know I'm sorry but we have to keep running!"

"I want daddy!"

"Shh! It's okay! But you need to be a little quieter alright?"

I sniffled, "They're gonna hurt us aren't they?"

"I won't let them, I promise. Okay?" I nodded as we continued. Everything hurt. I tripped and fell on my face; my brother's hand slipping out of mine. He picked me up and started to carry me, but it was difficult, "I'm sorry Lia, I can't carry you," He put me down and grabbed my hand once more.

We heard a gunshot and fell into the grass, Joey cried out in pain, "Joey!" I crawled over to him and found blood on his shirt, "Joey!"

"Run!" He tried to push me but I couldn't move, I was too scared.

I screeched when someone grabbed me, "Did you really have to shoot the kid?" A man asked.

"Did you think of a better way?" her smug voice was thick with a dark chill.

"You're messed up."

I saw the woman glare at him before stepping on Joey's shoulder making him cry out. "No! Please don't hurt him! Please!"

She grinned at me before picking him up and throwing him over her shoulder.

"Let us go!"

He pounded on her back kicking and struggling while I attacked the man who was holding me like a wild animal; biting, kicking, scratching, and hitting. He stumbled backwards a bit as I flailed. I opened my mouth and bit down on his hand as hard as I could. "God damn it!"

I felt weightless, flying through the air and landing on some very sharp rocks. I could taste blood in my mouth as my stomach rejected it's contents onto the grass. I tried to get up but I slipped and fell, I started rolling down the side of a hill; hitting rocks and shrubs before falling into the water below. I gasped for breath when my head bobbed to the surface, "Joey!" my scream was consumed by the water flooding my mouth. I choked and gagged as it went into my lungs, I tried to swim to the surface but the current kept sweeping me along. I finally made it to the top and was able to get a small amount of air before I was pulled under once more. The water burned my nose, throat, and lungs as I struggled to resurface. I was dragged under further as the water swept me along. I kept struggling and struggling until I lost consciousness...

I gasped, filling my lungs with large amounts of air as I fought to get free. I could hear a voice beside me as I struggled to open my eyes, "Lia! Lia, wake up!" I sat up quickly, my head spinning. My head fell into Danny's lap. "You're okay... You're okay..." He pet me as he spoke soothing words, "You're okay... Shh... Everything's going to be okay..."

My mind started to calm as I realized what was happening... I slowly un-tensed my body as I tried to relax. I stayed there until I felt calm enough to talk, which was at least thirty minutes. "Danny... Thank you..."

"You're welcome. I'm here."

"I'm okay...?"

"You're okay."

"I'm dry...?"

"You're dry..." he sounded slightly confused as he said it, Which he should be. I thought.

"My brother... He tried to protect me..."

"Your brother?"

"Joey... She shot him... To-to get us..."

"Hey. Hey. It's okay..." I realized I was shaking. "You're okay."

"I fell down a hill... Into a river... I-I almost drowned..."

"I'm sorry, Lia..."

"I don't like heights...! I don't like the water...!" I was starting to cry.

He shushed me, soothed me, until I could finally relax... I woke up in the middle of the night. It's cold... "You're okay."

"Danny...?"

"I'm here."

"I-I'm sorry I fell asleep..."

"Don't be. I'm fine."

"I'm cold..." I dug into my bag and found dad's blanket. I wrapped it around us and cuddled close to him. "I'll keep watch now."

"Don't worry. You're going to need your rest."

"You will to," I reminded him.

"Maybe," even in the dark I could tell he was smirking. The bag wasn't a very good pillow especially not for two. I moved us so we were against the rocks the bags between us and them. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer. He was making me so flustered again I could hardly think. "The stars are beautiful out here."

I looked up at them, "Yeah," I breathed. The sky was filled with a sea of stars. "Beautiful." I could feel him pull the blanket over my shoulder better before resting his head on mine. I sucked in a breath. I forced myself to release it slowly. He was making it so difficult to breath just by being so close to me. My lungs just didn't want to cooperate.

"Darn."

"Huh?"

"We're gonna be even later to the Gold Saucer now."

"The Gold Saucer? Why do you care about that?" I asked.

"You've never been to the Gold Saucer right?"

"No... I heard it's expensive," I added.

"I have money," I could tell he was smiling.

"You're gonna spend all your money to play a bunch of games?"

"I know the owner so it won't be too expensive."

"Right."

"No really. He's a friend of my dad's... Well... Sort of... We always sold to him. I don't know if they were really friends friends though."

"So what's the big deal about it?"

"It's a lot of fun! I wanted to show you... It's the perfect place for a date."

"D-date..?" I could feel my heart beating out of my chest.

"Do you want to go on a date with me to the Gold Saucer?"

"Wh-," I swallowed, "What kind of date?"

"A date date..."

"L-like as in-,"

"More than friends..." I swallowed hard as my face grew hotter, "I really, really like you," he added.

I had to look up at him even though I could hardly see him. "You... Like me? Like- like as brother and sister or..."

"Not like that. I don't see you like that at all... I've never seen you like a sister. Or brother," he added. "... I really like you... Will you... Will you go out with me?"

Everything in me just flared into a giddy flustered mess! "Yeah! I-I mean, yeah. I really like you too!"

He let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness! I kept waiting for you to punch me!" he laughed.

"Ha ha!" I smirked at him.

"You would and you know it."

"If I would, I would've done it!" I lightly punched his chest.

"See? Ah! The pain!" He dramatized.

"Pff! You punk!"

"Ah! She hit me! Oh god! What am I going to do?" He played it out a little more, making me laugh, when he suddenly just kissed my cheek making me freeze like a deer in the headlights. "Got you." He cuddled close to me snuggling his face into my hair. I could feel his breath tickle my face and neck, "You're adorable," he whispered into my ear.

I melted... There's no other way to describe it. I just couldn't handle all of his flirting anymore and just melted into a puddle of unrecognizable goo. Strangest thing was, right now, I didn't even care that I couldn't recognize myself... I was just so happy he was holding me...


	15. Chapter 15

I grinned as I remembered the night before; Danny was asleep with his head resting on my shoulder. I had to reposition myself so that I could scan the area and keep watch. Butterflies flew around inside as I swayed my head back and forth giggling a little. I'm his girlfriend! I was so happy! He was holding me close to him as he slept soundly. He definitely needed the rest after what happened yesterday. I checked on him periodically throughout the night to make sure he was okay. I was still worried about him even though he looked much better now than he did. He moved and rubbed his eyes, "It's bright out here..." he mumbled.

"Yeah," I looked up to the ridge we fell from, it was a long way up. Longer and steeper than the others could make down safely. I was lucky, I thought with a shiver. I don't think they were there anymore. They'll come back for us though... Yeah, of course they will. They're probably just trying to look for a safe way down. "We'd better get going," We may be able to find a goat trail or something.

"Yeah."

I realized that I still had some food from dad's house in my bag and gave him some. "Here."

"Is that chocolate?" I smiled. "I haven't had this in ages!" he grinned.

"It was my dad's."

"He gets the good stuff huh?"

"Yeah, he does! His pantry was stocked with stuff you'd never find in the slums!" My smile faded as I thought about him. I hope he's okay...

"He'll be fine," Danny hugged me.

"Thanks."

He pulled back to look in my face before he kissed my cheek, "It may be too early to say this but, I love you."

"Wh-what...?"

"I love you, Lianna..."

"I-I-I love you too...!"

He sighed in relief, "You're my best friend."

"Y-you're mine too... Other than Mary..."

He gave me a squeeze, "Let's go find her okay?" I nodded and helped him get up, slinging the packs over our shoulders before I supported him like a crutch... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about her; we still don't know the others that well... "This leg better be healed by the time we go on our date. I don't want you to have to carry me around," he teased.

"I'd make sure you had a crutch or a wheelchair," I smirked.

"Hmm... The pros and cons... If I had a wheelchair you could ride around with me."

I blushed, "Careful, I nearly slugged you."

He laughed, "I forgot I was dating a dragon. Dragons like to tease with fists," he grinned.

I shook my head, "Just where are you getting this information on dragons? I think you have me all wrong..."

"I can see that layer you're hiding under your scales. No matter how much you try to hide it." I got the feeling he was talking about something else, but what, I wasn't sure. We continued along the path as it got narrower and narrower. Soon it hit the end. I looked around frantically, all I could see were tall cliffs surrounding us. My eyes finally hit a brown wisp by a shrub and I followed it; a large red hind stood by the shrub nibbling on it.

"There!" I spooked it by shouting and saw it bound up a path zigzagging the mountain and turning a corner before it reached the top.

"I see." It was quite a ways up but I believed we could make it.

"Just hold onto me," I went up the slope in front of us before I could turn to the left and make my way to the trail. My foot slipped and I cursed before letting out a sigh of relief.

"I got you," he winced.

I breathed in shakily, "Thanks." We maneuvered our way over and stood on the path, I let out another sigh of relief and a silent prayer. I willed myself not to look above or below us, only on the path ahead. We made it to the bend, Almost there! We can make it! The path was laborious and slow. We made sure to make plenty of stops for water and to check how we both were faring. I was shaky but other than that fine, Danny seemed to be doing better and better. "I wish we had a chocobo," I muttered. That's when I remembered Shena. I doubt it but might as well try. I cupped my hand around my mouth and shouted, "Shena!" I felt really dumb, until Danny shouted the same thing a moment later, I blushed again, "Shena!"

We waited but no one came, "Worth a shot," Danny smiled at me. "Hey do you think Aerith would be able to make the plants take her to the top?"

I laughed, "I doubt it."

"I can just imagine her holding out her arms and plants shooting up out of the ground to carry her to the top."

"Dork," I teased.

"Glad you're smiling though," he grinned at me making my face light up.

We made our way to where the hind disappeared and followed the trail into a flatter and wider area with a cropping of trees. I let out a sigh of relief and a prayer of thanks before we sat down on a log. I dug into dad's stash and found more of the healthy energy food bars and some water, I even found an apple and a banana. Danny grinned appreciatively as he bit down on his energy bar. "You doing okay?"

"Just fine you?" he said between bites.

"Just making sure. You look ravenous."

"We have been hiking up the side of a cliff!" he said in between chews.

I punched him lightly, "Whatever!"

We heard something nearby and I jumped up, throwing my pack on the ground and drawing my blade, "You said that two days ago!"

"I have memory lapses Lana! You know this!"

Two people froze in front of us, "Well hello!" I lowered my blade slightly. "Do you know the path to get to Costa Del Sol? Dumbo here got us lost!"

"I told you I have memory lapses!"

"You're on the wrong path," I said.

"I told you!" she yelled at him.

They bickered for a moment before Danny cut in, "This path leads to the bottom of a crevasse so unless you wanna get stuck in a ditch I suggest you turn around."

"Is that where you guys came from?" she saw his leg, "God are you okay?"

"We rolled down the cliff..."

"Oh my god! Do you have any potions?"

I sighed, "Most of them cracked on the way down."

Lana dug into her pack and handed me a few potions, "Can never be too prepared!" she smiled.

I gave them to Danny and let him drink, he thanked her and smiled at me before he drank them. I didn't realize how much pain he was in until he sighed in relief and his body relaxed. "Much better, thanks again," he said.

"I'm amazed you two are still alive!" The man said, "That path is steep!"

I tensed. "... Thankfully a phoenix down survived the fall..." Danny said quietly.

"Oh god...!" Lana seemed to be a really enthusiastic person.

"So you came from Corel?"

"The Gold Saucer yeah. The path splits up in three directions, there aren't any signs but I guess since it's pretty obvious," she glared at her friend, "They thought people wouldn't need one."

The two fought like an old married couple. I was really hoping it'd just be the others, but at least they helped us. I heard her mention that there was a days journey ahead of us to reach the main trail, I sighed. Well at least Danny was feeling better now... I looked over to see him downing another potion. I bit my lip... He must've been in a serious amount of pain! I ran over to him when he started to stand, "I've got it." I stayed nearby just to be sure. He wobbled so I put my hands on either side of him just in case. He stood up straight and tested his leg, "See? I've got this." I relaxed a bit, "Just a bit stiff."

"Glad you're feeling better!" she smiled. "But we'd all better head out before it gets dark!" We agreed and headed to Corel. I didn't really trust them but I tried to relax a little. I was afraid they were going to try to steal from us or something... If anything that would be Yuffie, I smirked remembering what Danny had told me. He left out the part about the frog but Mary filled me in on that. Though if she touches him again we're going to have problems.

I wrapped my arm around his waist and leaned my head against his chest as we walked. He smiled down at me as he held me close, kissing the bridge of my nose. I blushed and buried my head into his shoulder. The two people walked ahead of us were talking about Costa Del Sol and how much she wanted the sun and sand. It made me remember dad again... Is he doing okay? Oh god... I wish he was here with us... I blushed, Well. Maybe not right here, with me and Danny. I remembered what he told me and my heart squeezed. 'I don't want you dating yet.' I felt bad... I wanted to be with Danny but I wanted to be a little girl again too... I never got a chance to be a little girl... Riding on my dad's shoulders or running around with him... Going on picnics... Getting read bedtime stories... "It's okay," Danny whispered to me.

I felt tears slide down my cheeks as I looked up at him, "I miss my dad..." I whispered shakily.

"I know. I'm sorry. We'll get him out of there soon."

I nodded, "Yeah."

It was so comforting to have him hold me as we walked. We stayed that way in silence until we heard something up ahead; more footsteps. Mary, Cloud, and Tifa were the first to appear through the trees, "Lianna! Danny!" Mary hugged us fiercely as she cried. "I was so scared! I was so scared you were both gone!"

We hugged her back just as tightly, Danny whispering to her and shushing her. "Glad you guys are okay," Cloud said.

"How'd you find us?" I asked. "How'd you know which way to go?"

"I used to live 'round Corel," Barret said, "Ain't the first time a traveler's hit the bottom of that crevasse..."

I shuddered. I hope they were alright... I didn't see any bodies... But still... The rest of the team appeared and the odd couple greeted them. We all walked together down the forested path until it started to grow dark, then we set up camp. Danny held me close the whole time and we cuddled together at the fire Barret had made. "I see you two got closer through all this," he said making us blush.

"Aren't they so cute together?" Mary asked.

"They're such a cute couple," Tifa agreed.

"Aww!" Aerith cooed.

Cloud chuckled slightly, "You know your dad told me to watch out for this. He told me to keep you two away from each other." My lips trembled, "Sorry... I didn't mean..."

I bit my lip and swallowed, "It's okay..."

Everyone stayed quiet for longest time until the couple started talking to each other, laughing and arguing about things.

In the morning we all set out, eventually separating from Lana and her companion and reaching the bridge to Corel's Reactor before finally reaching Corel itself. All the way Barret seemed kind of odd and when we got to town I saw why. "Look who's here! Ya'know you got some real nerve showin' your face around here again!" Barret stood stock still as a man punched him as hard as he could in the gut, making Barret double over. I tensed, I may not know what he's done but as far as I've seen Barret's a good person! I clenched my fists, they reminded me of those bullies back in the slums. I remember how they wailed on me when I was a kid, calling me weak and worthless...

Before I knew it I was over there, "What's your problem a**hole!?"

"Lianna stop," Cloud grabbed my arm.

"You don't know what he's done kid!" a man glared at me.

"Doesn't give you the right-!"

I was interrupted by Barret, "I'm sorry."

"****! You ain't even worth it!" The bullies stormed away kicking up the dust from the barren soil making me cough. Trees dotted the landscape few and far between. This place is almost as bad as the Midgar wastelands... Thankfully it won't take us three days to get to a cool place this time. Barret explained some BS explanation to why his hometown was like this. I don't see how any of this could be his fault, especially by what he told us. I mean come on! He's not the only one who agreed to go for mako instead of coal, and so what if it happened while he was out of town? I just don't get it! There's no basis for their accusations here! They just want someone to blame. I stopped stomping around glaring at everyone when I saw a little boy crying on a dusty log, "But mama I'm hungry!"

"We don't have any more food honey, I'm sorry." My stomach clenched, there are kids like this all over the world but... There has to be something I can do... A light bulb clicked in my head and I rummaged through my bag. I knelt down at the boy's level and gave him a large chunk of rock. "What are you doing? Wait! Is that mythril?"

"Here. I'm not sure where you can sell this but-,"

"Thank you so much!" she grabbed me into a hug, weeping... It felt really awkward but eventually I hugged her back. I don't mean to be rude but I was glad when it was over... When I got up from our conversation I found Danny smiling at me.

He sauntered up to me and gave me a sweet hug before kissing my cheek. I loved it but at the same time it was rather embarrassing! Everyone was looking at us! Or at least Mary, Tifa, Cloud, and Barret were. Everyone else was exploring the place. But still! Ughh! I could hardly take it anymore when he nuzzled his face in my hair. "Okay, that's enough." Huh? Cloud looked a bit concerned as he tried to tear us apart. "I made a promise and I plan to keep it. At least two feet you guys."

"Wh-what!?"

"Your dad made the number."

And just like that everything grew heavier... I felt like crying... I was just starting to get to know him... And now... I stepped away from Danny and Cloud and walked off hugging myself. I didn't know where I was going but soon I stopped at a decrepit tree overlooking a gorge. I slumped down beside it. Is he gonna be okay...? It was hard to believe... I finally was able to spend time with my dad but... I was only allowed a few days... Tears overflowed, breaking free, I kept going back to that rock. Waiting for my brother and wishing beyond anything that my dad would come save us... All I want is my family to be together again... Is Joey even still alive? He would have to be right? Hojo needed him... H-his blood... I shuddered and clutched myself tighter. I remember how I screamed and thrashed when they tied me to that table... How he kept laughing as he stuck needle after needle into my skin. Daddy...!

I don't know how long I was there but I woke up out of my flashback in Mary's arms. She was soothing me how mom used to... Petting my hair and singing to me... "I want my mom and dad... I want Joey..."

"I know... I do too..." she gave me a squeeze and I realized she was crying. I hated remembering that we've both been through the same thing... I felt so guilty that my dad was still alive but both of her parents were gone... Especially when all this time I had hated him... I guess I didn't hate him as much I realized... I really need him... I wish he was here...


	16. Chapter 16

The trip from Corel to the Gold Saucer wasn't too long and soon we found ourselves waiting in line at the front gate. I wasn't really sure why we even came here until Cloud told me that they had seen Sephiroth pass through here and we needed more information. It seemed like hours before we were close to the ticket booth... I was so exhausted I just wanted to lie down... "Let's go straight to the hotel room," Cloud was looking at me before he switched his gaze to the others, "Everyone looks wiped out." I silently thanked him.

Finally! Our turn! "Hello, would you like a single ticket for each of you or a forever gold pass?" She listed on prices and blah blah blah until finally we stepped through.

I don't appreciate the spooky theme of this hotel... I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight. I mean it's not that bad I guess but ehhh... Mary was holding onto me and Danny the whole time. She cried when the zombie butler jump scared us. The poor guy looked like he was gonna cry too, he kept apologizing to her and even gave her some GP and a potion. I'm glad they're nice here, some of the employees we encountered so far were jerks.

The next morning I heard a knock at my door; Danny. "Ready?"

"Yeah. B-but can this be more of a friend date because dad doesn't want me dating yet and... I wanna be a little girl again..." I was wringing my hands before I looked up at him.

I was waiting for him to get upset but he just gave me a hug, "Of course, Lianna." He gave me a kiss on the cheek before taking my hand and nearly dragging me out the door. His grin was huge as he ran through the crowds of people and to a place called the Wonder Square.

A man in a chocobo suit hopped through the crowds of people chirping about the Wonder Square and its attractions. Another mascot joined him in the jumping around; a giant mog with a cat on its head. It wandered toward us before bee lining it to another entrance. Weird. Danny ushered for me to hurry up and we got in line for the motorcycle chase. With a shiver it reminded me of our escape from Shin-Ra. We wandered throughout the game rooms playing every game we could before rushing off to the Speed Square. My favorite game so far had been the snowboarding game, I told Danny as we waited in line.

"Sorry, you guys, you need three for the Speed Square."

"I'll go with them!" A small girl jumped from the crowd. "I meet the height requirement! See! See!" she jumped in front of the board, I hid my smirk, the girl barely reached the 'you must be this tall line'. That's when my mind clicked, haven't I seen this girl before? I examined her as she talked with the ride manager, wavy strawberry blonde hair with a few curls ringing around her face, green eyes, dimples… I saw her on floor 60! Her fluffy pink sweater bounced as I watched her plop herself down into the middle seat of the ride. Danny took the back leaving me with the front. Great… "I'm Rena!" She thrust her arm out to shake my hand and we introduced ourselves. I took it hesitantly. She's just a kid, barely 7 years old, if that, I reminded myself. She's not affiliated with them. I shook her hand before focusing on the directions. I faded into memory, I swear I saw this kid hopping around the sixtieth floor in Shin-Ra headquarters. What is she doing here? My chest tightened violently are they here too…? I tried to calm myself from my panic, but instead I clenched the handles in front of me so tightly my hands grew numb. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Are you okay?"

I clenched my teeth, "Lia? What's wrong?" Danny squeezed my other shoulder lightly. I placed my hand on his drawing comfort from him. My heart rate steadied slightly as I tried to keep my mind on him alone.

"F-," I swallowed hard, "Fine… I'm fine…"

"Do you need to get off?" she asked as the ride manager buckled us in.

I shook my head. It'd be safer on the ride… Or at least I think so… I breathed in heavily before settling into the seat. "I'm okay." I steadied my breathing like Joan taught me to do as the ride started to creep off. Even though I was slightly distracted those two minutes weren't so bad, I even wracked up a few points. Granted not enough to really win much of a prize besides a box of tissues and some mardi graus beads, but hey, we did pretty good.

When we had gotten out the girl smiled at me, "You did great out there," she gave me a thumbs up and a grin, "Good job!"

"Thanks." Danny had wrapped his arm around me while he and Rena accepted the prizes and I scanned the crowd for the Turks.

"You two wanna play some more games together? We could go to the chocobo square!" she chirped.

Danny smiled, "That sounds fun but, where are your parents? Don't you think they'll be worried?"

She huffed and crossed her arms, "He's too busy!" she stamped her foot, "He promised me he wouldn't be working this vacation!" she started pacing, "He always does this! He never pays attention to me anymore! Ever since mummy died…!" She stopped cold and her arms fell to her sides as she sniffled.

"Hey, it's okay…" Danny knelt down beside her and I followed suit.

He pet her hair softly and almost immediately she grabbed him and held onto him tightly, "I want my mummy!" she whimpered into his chest.

"I want my mommy too," he gave her a light squeeze.

I bit my lip as tears came to my eyes. She reminded me so much of me… "I want my mommy too…" I found myself saying.

The poor thing cried until she fell asleep. It must have been fairly recent for her… But no matter how long its been it still hurts like hell… I don't know if I can ever get over what happened to us… I broke free of my thoughts when Danny wrapped his arm around me again and gave me a light squeeze. "Hey, let's go get something to eat, okay?"

He carried her to a bench next to the food services and set her down to go get some food. I pet her as she curled up beside me. She sniffled, she must look more like her mom I thought, as I tried to remember the man she was with. The two looked so happy as they bounced around the sixtieth floor. I tried not to look at them at the time because seeing how happy they were made me feel like crying. It made me want my dad so much... But in the end thats why they stood out so much to me...

She sniffled awake, "You hungry?" I asked as I watched Danny talk to a man at the booth. He smiled back at me before turning to face him again.

She nodded slowly. She was silent for a moment before she asked, "What happened to your mummy?" My gut froze as I tried not to remember but I don't think she noticed, "My mummy got sick last year and passed away..."

Tears sprang to my eyes and I wiped them with my sleeve, "I lost my mom when I was six years old... She was... She was..." I didn't know if I could tell her."

I jumped when she hugged me, "I'm sorry. It'll be okay."

She sniffled before looking up at me, "... Do all dad's do this?"

"Do what?"

She drew in a heavy breath as she refocused on her shoes, "Get too busy with work and forget about their daughters?"

"I-I don't know… I…" I clenched my hand around the bottom of my shirt, "I hadn't really even... Met. My dad... Until recently…"

"Why not?"

I dared a glance, and bit my lip, deciding to tell her the story kinda like my mom used to do when I was younger, "Some very bad people took him away from us. They… They destroyed my family…" I didn't realize I was crying until she gave me another squeeze.

"I'm sorry. Is that how your mummy died? Was it AVALANCHE?"

I tensed, "No it wasn't AVALANCHE... But yeah... The bad guys killed her and took my dad and brother..."

"I'm so sorry!"

I felt Danny's calloused hand on mine and looked in time to see him meet his forehead to mine. His hand drifted to my face, everything's going to be okay. He wiped my tears away before kissing my forehead. "Everything's going to be alright." I nodded. After a moment of silence he said, "Why don't we let your dad know you're okay? I know I'd be worried sick if you were my daughter." He'd make a good father, I smiled softly before I remembered my own again.

"Okay…" she gave me a quick squeeze before nodding and getting up. "Last time I saw him was…" She looked around frantically, "Umm… Where? Where did I see him?" she started crying again, "I lost him didn't I?"

"It's okay. We'll help you find him. Is there any place he told you to meet him at if you two got split up?"

"The-the-the hotel!" She grabbed Danny's hand before dragging us to the Hotel. I could tell she was scared even before she clung to Danny's side and whimpered. I came up to the other side, setting my hand on her hair as we searched through the lobby. She showed us her hotel door but we found it open and empty except for a zombie maid cleaning the room. "Where's my daddy?" She whimpered looking up for my help.

"Hello, where is the man who was staying in this room?" I asked.

"Oh! Excuse me. Let's see... The mandatory checkout time is 12pm," she checked her watch, "It's 1:30pm right now."

Rena started wailing, "He left without me!" She ran down the stairs before we could talk to her. We chased her to the Chocobo Square and lost her. We looked around until we heard sniffling. My heart squeezed when I saw her curled up next to the chocobo stables.

"We'll find him," I assured her.

"He left me behind..."

"Now what would make you think that?" Danny asked. "He's probably frantically searching for you somewhere."

"B-because! I yelled at him! I told him that I never wanted to see him again! That I wanted a different daddy..!" Rena cried.

I pulled her into my arms and shushed her like mom used to do with me. "I thought my dad never loved me and wanted nothing to do with me but I found out that he's wanted me and was searching for me for over ten years."

"Really?" Her sad little eyes looked up into mine, "Do you think my daddy's like that?"

I nodded, "I do."

She snuggled her face into my chest, giving me the urge to go 'aww!' She was so adorable! "Thank you."

I picked her up as we decided to search through more of the amusement park, all the while I kept a close eye out for any Shin-Ra employees or shady looking people. I even whispered to Danny what I knew causing him to wrap an arm around me and pull me close. We scoured the Wonder, Chocobo, Event, and Speed Squares before heading to the next gate; Battle Square. We arrived to see a Shin-Ra soldier lying on the ground.

"Oh my god!" I held Rena's eyes while Danny ran over to check his pulse. He looked up at me and shook his head.

"What!? What's going on!?" She pulled my hands down to see the soldier lifeless on the stone, blood pooling around him. Her whole demeanor changed and before I could do anything she wiggled out of my arms and ran into the Battle Square, "Daddy!" She screamed. "Daddy!" We chased after her to find her crying in the middle of the pile of bodies. "Daddy!" She slumped down to the floor wailing inconsolably. Just then Cloud ran up behind us along with Aerith, Tifa, and that stuffed mog from earlier.

The mog rushed over to her and wrapped its arms around her, "Thank god you're safe," I heard it whisper to her.

"D—daddy..?"

"I'm here. I'm safe, honey."

"Who could've done this?" Aerith asked. Cloud opened his mouth to speak when the room started shaking. We turned as the loud footfalls entered; machines surrounded us in an instant before Dio walked towards us. "What have you done!?"

"We didn't do this-," Cloud started.

"Save it!"

The machina grabbed us, ripping me away from Danny, their horrid screeching of metal on metal mixed with my companions screams, "Wait! Dio it's me Danny! Stop!" His scream mixed with the mog, Rena's, and the others "Wait! Stop! She's just a child! You're scaring her!" "Daddy!" The tight metal cut off my air and into my arms until releasing me enough to just barely let me struggle, "Please! We're innocent!" I shouted. When we were brought before a large hole in the floor I started to hyperventilate. I'm pretty sure my screaming was the loudest when it jumped me into that gaping maw, "Daddy!" I screamed until my voice was hoarse.

I awoke to Danny, Mary, Cloud and Tifa surrounding me. My throat hurt so bad. Mary gave me some water and I drank it greedily. "You okay?" Cloud asked.

I nodded, unable to speak. I'm pretty sure that even if I tried no intelligible sound would come out. I looked over to see Rena being held tightly by that mog, it looked like she cried herself to sleep, poor kid... She's gonna be scarred for life. At that moment the cat on top glared at us, it kinda gave me the shivers. The cat hopped down and started stomping towards us, "And what were ye thinking bringing a small child into this?" I grimaced, yep angry.

Danny examined him before answering, "What do you care? What even are you? We were trying to help her find her dad," Danny was more irritated than I'd heard him in a long time. "It's not like we knew we were going to find a murder scene in an amusement park and be sentenced guilty on absolutely no proof! F***ing Dio! I forgot how much of a-," he looked at Mary and I and blinked, "Sorry... I forgot how he always jumped to conclusions..."

"It's okay," Mary hugged him, "You haven't seen him in a long time."

"You said your friend could've-," the cat started.

"I said they were shot, but I don't believe Barret would have done this."

He continued to glare, thats when I realized his voice was different from before, Rena's dad spoke at first now it was this cat's voice. "What are you?" Danny asked.

It remained silent for a moment before he said, "I'm a fortunetelling machine, Cait Sith's the name."

"Cait Sith?" His brow was raised as he tried out the weird name.

"Cloud here has a bit of an ominous future ahead of him! So I decided to come with!"

I took another drink of water, "You're her dad?" I coughed.

"Aye. Rena's supposed to be up top with me."

"Then why are you here following me?"

"I already told ye! I'm curious!"

"Curiosity killed the cat," I muttered.

His tail stood up in irritation, "But satisfaction brought it back!" He tapped his tail a few times on the ground before scurrying over to the little girl who was waking up.

I could just barely hear his voice when he soothed her and it reminded me of my dad... I hugged my knees before getting up and walking off. I didn't want them to see me cry... I held myself as I walked around a building and slumped against the side, staring off into the desert. I let myself cry. I wanted my dad there with me. Why did my life have to be like this...? My heart ached.

I jumped when I felt someone sit down next to me, I was surprised to find it was Cloud. His arms were crossed over his knees as he stared out into the desert, I was expecting him to speak but he remained silent. It was comforting. After a long moment I spoke, "Thanks..." I croaked.

"You're welcome..."

"Have you figured out what was missing...?" I'm not sure why I asked that. He shook his head, "... Why don't you ask Tifa?"

"... I've been too afraid to ask..." He admitted.

"Why?"

I was afraid I had pushed to far before he finally spoke, "I've lost something... It would be even more painful if I was forced to remember it now, right...? I'm honestly not sure I can take that right now... And Tifa... I'm sure shes waiting for me to figure it out on my own."

"I see..."

"... I'm sorry about your family."

"I'm sorry about yours," I said.

"We need to figure out what happened and get out of here, its not safe. I'm especially worried about Rena. I know Cait Sith is watching her but still."

"What can we do?"

"Not sure yet," he said getting up, "But first things first we have to find Barret."


	17. Chapter 17

Only Cloud, Barret, and Tifa went to confront Dyne, the rest of us holed up in an old house waiting for them. Apparently, Rena and her dad got over their little misunderstanding because she was sitting in the mog's lap talking to him animatedly. At one point I heard him say that he was going to talk with Dio about our release. He just said that for show I'm sure. Who would coordinate the release of strangers if you still didn't believe they were completely innocent? But I suppose that was fine with me, I didn't feel too good about being indebted to a complete stranger either.

The door knocked three times and Danny opened it to reveal Cloud and the others. He explained to us the situation, if one of us won the chocobo race above we would be released. We all talked about the best person to do it, unanimously electing Cloud. After the way he handled that chocobo in the marshes I'll gladly put my freedom in his hands. Marylyn voiced that she wished she could be there to encourage the chocobos to help us though. That made me laugh, I had almost forgotten that she could do that. An hour or so later we stood in front of Dio who was apologizing, especially to Danny after he found out what happened. He gave him and his sisters free lifetime passes, which is great since admission costs an arm and a leg. I was surprised when the mog still held Rena. "Aren't you going to come get her?" I glared at the stuffed cat.

His tail twitched in obvious annoyance, "Do ye know how hard it is to get through security miss?"

"It's okay, Lianna. Thank you."

"One moment," I picked up Cait without any warning and pulled him to the other side of the room staring into it's face. Trying to hold on to the squirmy little cat.

"Oi! Get yer hands offa me missy!"

"Listen!" I snapped, "You get your ass off your computers and pay attention to Rena! She said the only reason she ran off was because you've been too busy with work to pay attention to her!" He stopped squirming immediately and paid attention, "I know what it's like to feel like my dad never wanted me, and I don't want her to feel the same way! In her mind, ever since her mom died she's lost both parents..."

"She said that?" He deflated as he turned to look at her watching us.

"She said you don't pay attention to her ever since her mom died."

"Rena..." His real voice slipped through, "Thank you."

I nodded as I set him down and watched him run back to his little girl. Soon we were all voluntarily going to descend the main elevator. That surprised me, I definitely didn't want to go back down that hell hole. First though we all agreed on lunch, I breathed in heavily, scanning my surroundings as we wandered through the food courts together when I swore I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Rena grinning ear to ear being held by a dark haired man in a blue suit, I could barely see him but I think I recognized him from somewhere else. I walked up to them, the others busy with supplies and a late lunch.

"This your dad?" I wasn't about to let a stranger walk away with her, just in case.

She nodded vigorously, "Yep!"

"Thank you for watching out for her."

I nodded, "Now no more running off," I pointed at her with a smirk. "And you," I pointed to him, "Remember what I said."

His familiarity kept nagging at me, he wasn't the guy from floor 60 so who was he? No matter what I tried it wouldn't surface. All that would appear was hojo's face and that made me shiver! "I will," I snapped back into reality in time to see something that confused me; a fleeting look of concern flashed over his face in an instant.

"Lianna says that when she was my age someone killed her mummy and took her daddy and her brother. Could you help them?"

I stepped back in surprise, swallowing down the dread that was rising. Please don't tell him about me! "What..!" he seemed horrified, as he clutched his little girl tighter.

"I-i-it's okay don't worry-," I stammered.

The man remained silent before I backed up, I jumped when I realized I had bumped into someone, my breath caught in my throat.

"Lianna!" His warm arms wrapped around me as tears streamed down my face. How was this possible...?

I looked up to see my dad smiling at me, holding me close. Is this... A dream...? He kissed my hair, "D-dad..? H-how did you escape?"

His face was filled with relief, "I told you I've done this before."

"But-!" he just hugged me close and shushed me.

"No matter what happens I will always come find you. Okay?" He whispered to me. Vaguely I think I heard Rena cheering, when I glanced over I saw the man walking away with her in his arms, she waved at me as she clung to his neck.

He looked into my face, wiping the tears that fell down, "But-how did you escape? how did you find me?" I asked, he smiled softly as I remembered another question I needed to ask him, "She told me how she killed you a—and pushed you off a cliff... How are you here?"

His smile fell and he turned his face away, "I did die... For a moment... I-I saw your mother in the Lifestream but I... I didn't get a chance to talk to her before I was pulled back... Some travelers found me... Friends from Fort Condor..." he breathed in heavily, "… When they told me that they already had you and that if I didn't go with them they would hurt you... I cooperated... A day later they slipped up, that's when I realized you were safe. So," he forced a smirk, "I used my tricks," the sadness in his eyes overtook everything... "You don't know how many times I've escaped over these years."

Before I realized what I was doing, I hugged him, "I don't understand! Why—how could someone hurt us like this?" I thought about my mom and Joey, "They took Joey." I felt him tense.

"You remember?"

I nodded, I told him what I had remembered the day that Danny... Died... I shivered at the memory. Throughout it all he grew more and more upset. "I-I can't handle heights... Or water..." I admitted.

"Of course, you couldn't, honey... You've been traumatized..."

"I nearly drowned..."

"You didn't." After a moment he brought us over to the others.

"Gray!" Cloud shot up, the others with him.

"Dad!" Aerith hugged him, "How did you escape?" He told them what he had told me as he hugged us tightly.

"My girls... I'm sorry I haven't been here for you." It still felt weird; him calling Aerith my sister... I still didn't really know her and honestly I felt jaded towards her. That's probably why she's been avoiding me a bit, giving me space, she can sense it... I was upset that he was there with her when he could've been with me! I'm his daughter! I think they sensed my agitation because Aerith gave him one last squeeze told him she loved him and then went over to sit by Tifa, Cloud, and Mary. "What's wrong, honey?" he asked quietly.

I couldn't help but scowl, "She's not my sister," I muttered.

"Lianna-."

"You could've come back sooner! Then everything would've been okay! But you just to be with her instead!" My voice was rising, I was starting not to care if anyone heard or not. Tears of anger and heartbreak poured down my face. "Why are you even here? Is it for her?"

"Lianna," his voice broke, "You know I wanted to be with you."

"Do I?" I pulled the hair at the sides of my head before running off. I didn't realize he had been folloing me until he caught and held me close. I tried not to but I hugged his arm as I cried. He pet my hair and shushed me.

"I'm so sorry sweetie... I'm so sorry... I should've been with you, you're right. If I had only been sooner..." I his body wracked with a sob and I could feel dampness on my hair as he kissed me. "I'm so sorry." My legs wobbled and he caught me, holding me in his arms as he comforted me. The rock was finally my dad... "It's okay baby girl. It's okay..." I cried until I couldn't cry anymore but still he held me close. "I'm here now baby. I'm here." It was so nice to have him hold me again but it still hurt. I was still scared that he would leave me again. That he didn't want me. That he didn't love me as much as Aerith. As if sensing my thoughts he said, "I love you. I love you, your mom, and your brother so much... It hurt being away... It hurt me so much!" If I could talk I'd probably say; I don't believe you. Not because I wanted to hurt him so much as I was terrified maybe he was faking. Why would he fake this? But all this time... He can't erase the years of pain in just a few days... "I know it's gonna take you a long time to heal from what happened but I'm going to be right here every step of the way. I'm never going to leave you... Not anymore..." Not by choice he meant. "Please trust me... No... I'll teach you how to trust someone again. I promise. you can always rely on me okay?"

Sobs wracked my body but nothing came out... He's right. I was still afraid that everyone would leave me... I didn't trust anyone fully, not even Danny, Joan, or Mary... Not anymore anyways... The people I trusted most in my life were my mom, brother, and uncle... Uncle Reid... He was... Dad's older twin...? Was he still alive? And aunt... Jeanie...? I remembered how my uncle used to tell me how much my dad loved me... He was always there for me... Like a father... But... I knew he wasn't... The kids in the neighborhood always used to bully me and tell me that my dad never wanted me and that's why he was gone... Because I was a freak... They acted like I was evil just because my hair was different... I remember mom telling me it was just a genetic anomaly. I thought it was weird that only dad, uncle Reid and I had violet hair... I guess my great grandma had it too though...

It felt good to be in his arms again... My last family... The only other person like me... "What happened to our family; my aunt and uncle."

I could feel his body tense, he was silent for so long I thought I had hit a soft spot, that he wouldn't answer. "They're gone now... They died too..."

"How?"

"Kalm.. It was... A year after your mom died... Shin-Ra bombed it, killing almost everyone... The survivors were..." He shook his head, "They suffered an even worse fate... My brother... He... He died instantly... Thankfully... I don't know about Jeanie though. Your aunt," he added.

"So I was right..." Even if those kids were mean they still didn't deserve that... A thought occured to me, "That's why it's different now? I don't remember there being a wall..."

"Yes. The new settlers rebuilt the city and made the wall because of the increase in monsters." I coughed, I needed water, "Here," he pulled out a water bottle. I took a large gulp before sipping it slowly. He kissed my temple before lifting me up.

"What're you doing?" I panicked.

"It's alright, I've got you."

I know he carried me before and I don't usually care what people think but it was weird... I decided to ignore that for once and cuddled into his chest, I needed this. He carried me over to the others and set me down on the bench beside Cloud and Mary. Cloud slid some food and water over to me. I guess he knew how much I needed that. I wondered if my eyes were puffy and red like I thought they were. After eating we took off in the buggy, dad driving as Cloud told us how he found a Ramuh materia lying around in the chocobo stables. I gave him a high five. So far Cloud and Tifa I was closer to Cloud and Tifa than anyone else. I sometimes forgot Nanaki was there because he didn't really talk that much and Barret I learned to tune out because of his flurry of cussing and wild ranting. Aerith was cool but she still kinda bothered me of course and Yuffie well she was pretty shady looking sometimes. I saw her eyeing our materia quite a few times, I think thats the only reason she sticks around. I keep a watchful eye out for her. Cait Sith was with us too, Cloud just lets anyone come along doesn't he? I guess that's why he makes a good guy, he doesn't judge anyone, he accepts them as they are. I'm sure that's why we unanimously, except for Barret, voted him as the leader.

I wondered how Rena and her dad were doing as we made our way over the river. We were making good time. We had only left from the Goldsaucer like an hour or two ago. I checked the clock, yep an hour. Seemed like less because we were finally able to enjoy each others company. I sat down next to dad in the front, he smiled when he saw me. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"Good. We're a few hours or so away from Gongaga." We talked until Gongaga came into view. Or at least I think that's what it was. It looked rather strange; There was a huge structure in the center of forest that looked like it had exploded out the top like a volcano. "The Gongaga reactor," My dad said, "It exploded a few years ago taking most of the village with it." I squinted, there was something landing nearby the village. It was so small it almost looked like a bird but I knew it wasn't. The fading light made it difficult to tell what it was. When we pulled up as the sun was setting I realized it was gone.

"We'll stay here for the night and head to Cosmo Canyon in the morning," dad said.

Cloud nodded, "Good idea."

As we walked through the path into the forest I regretted having stayed in an airconditioned vehicle for so long. I didn't realize how hot it would be. I groaned, "This place is hotter than the slums!" I complained, normally I wouldn't care but after being in air conditioning so long I wasn't used to it.

Nanaki chuckled, "Then you may not like Cosmo Canyon. It is simliar to the Midgar Wastelands in temperature." I grimaced. I don't think I wanna stay there...

A little while later and Dad was holding us girls tight. When Reno and Rude showed up, Cloud and the others stepped in front to protect us. "What do you want?" Cloud asked.

"Payback for what you did in Sector Seven."

"That was your fault," Danny glared.

"My fault? I'll show you kid."

"Show me," he threw up his arms, "We'll just beat you again!"

My eyes widened in surprise, I've never seen Danny act like this. It seems more like something I would do. Cloud put a hand on his shoulder but Danny just shrugged it off, "How could you just murder all of those innocent people? There were children living in Sector Seven, both on and below the plate! How can you live with yourself!?" He looked at him like he was repulsive cockroach and he is.

"You live, you die, you move on," He brandished his EMR.

"What did he do?" Yuffie asked.

"He activated the Emergency Plate Release System... Killing thousands..." I shook as I remembered the horrible screaming and our very narrow escape... I felt guilty to be alive... "Everyone was crushed..." I sobbed out. Dad held me tight, kissing my hair as I clung to him. Their deaths rang in my mind, the screaming filled my ears. I whimpered as I saw the children below, the adults, everyone running in panic as they dodged the falling debris. "Mommy! Mommy!" A girl wailed next to her fallen mother who had been impaled by shrapnel... There was so much chaos...

I opened my eyes, realizing I had been lost in a flashback when I saw the look of worry on my dad's face. He was shushing me... Cradling me like a child... My throat was raw... Had I been screaming again? I clung to him as my body started to register my surroundings. We were in a forest I remembered. Gongaga. But... Where was the forest...? A dark curved wall was in front of me. We were in a house..? "Daddy..." I heard myself whimper.

"I'm here sweetie. I'm here."

"I want my mommy..."

He kissed my hair, nuzzling his face to mine, "I know sweetie. I know..." He kissed me again, "Daddy's here."

I forced my muscles to relax. I was safe in my dad's arms. I was safe...


End file.
